The National Economic and Development Authority Region VI conducted the 3rd Regional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Forum last November 26, 2019 among monitoring and evaluation coordinators and practitioners across sectors of Western Visayas to further improve their knowledge and capabilities in M&E.
Focusing on the need to develop effective mechanisms to respond to the resulting shifts and disruptions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe) and capture the opportunities it presents, the forum highlighted the use of M&E in evidenced-based decision-making.
Director Jeffrey I. Manalo of the PPP Center provided the details and efforts related to the monitoring of PPP projects and introduced the Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF).
Ms. Maria Rhiza S. Castillo, SYSTRA Philippines President, discussed the Value Engineering Value Analysis (VE/VA) and encouraged the participants to use the said process to achieve value for money and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government investments.
Dr. Nenita A. Soluta shared the Department of Health’s regulations and mechanisms in monitoring health facilities which is critical to the development of the LGUs, particularly the urban centers.
In her welcome message, RD Ro-Ann A Bacal of NEDA VI pointed out that critical to our work is gathering timely and relevant data, as expeditiously as possible, to be used in effectively determining the performance of program/project implementers. Monitoring and evaluation is critical in validating whether projects are implemented as planned, on set time period, and within available resources.
“The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data. As such, we should mainstream M&E into the development process cycle to improve the way we gather and utilize data, especially for major projects that have tremendous impact on the well-being of people and communities, assuring everyone that decision-making, policy-formulation, planning, project formulation and investment programming are based on reliable information generated from our monitoring activities,” she added.
The forum is supportive of the challenge issued by Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia during the 8th M&E Network Forum for the M&E community to weave together perspectives and lessons in solving our country’s development challenges through evidence-based decision-making. (NRO6/M.T.Jinon)
