A training session was recommended in February for capacity building at local level
The workshop was led by two trainers from the World Bank headquarters, Mohamed Khatouri and Thomas Jeefa Ramin
The goal is to establish a project monitoring system that puts emphasis on their impact on local beneficiaries
Kinshasa, November 12, 2008—Through the 2005 Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, special emphasis was placed on result-based monitoring for development projects. In this context, the World Bank missions in DR Congo and Brazzaville held a training workshop on October 20-23 in Kinshasa, which aimed at enhancing the capacity of local staff on results-based monitoring. The workshop brought together some fifty participants, including Bank project coordinators, government representatives, and interested observers.
A review of the Bank’s portfolios in February 2008 had issued the recommendation that a training session be held for capacity building in order to provide better result monitoring.
The workshop was conducted by two quality control officers from Washington, who reminded participants that results-based monitoring seeks to improve the design and implementation of projects in order to achieve expected results for the beneficiary populations. As such, it is an essential component of reform programs that seek to improve public sector governance and the management of public resources.
"Project teams need to establish a good system of monitoring and evaluation,” said Mohamed Kathouri, a senior quality monitoring officer who directed the training with Jeef Ramin, senior operations officer. He observed that many achievements on the ground do not get reported by country teams. Noting that poverty eradication is the Bank’s raison d’être, he added that it is therefore important to strengthen existing evaluation mechanisms in order to keep track with the Bank’s mission statement at the country level.
“Great emphasis should be placed on simplifying the system,” Kathouri said. “The idea is to choose a few simple indicators that can be measured. We need to align all projects with priorities defined in the national strategy for poverty reduction," he added.
“We want to see the impact of projects on target populations," added Ramin.
Taking the education sector as an example, Ramin declared that results monitoring should go beyond simply building classrooms. "It should ensure that children are actually learning; that qualified teachers are performing; and teaching equipment and textbooks do exist," he said.
After the training it was envisaged that each project management team should continue to work on improving the results, with adequate adjustments for project monitoring and evaluation.
Additional follow-up is scheduled to take place in the next two to three months.
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