The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has launched a mid–term evaluation report on the government’s development policy framework in Takoradi of the Western Region.
The report, which was conducted in 2020 through the implementation process of the Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework, assessed the progress achieved in the implementation of policies, programmes and projects towards national development.
The four-year policy framework (2018-2021) dubbed, “Agenda for jobs; Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for all”, was prepared to operationalize government’s coordinated programme for economic and social development.
The District League Table III (DLT), which served as a tool for tracking national development, highlighting districts that were performing well and ones, which were handicapped was also launched.
The DLT was developed by the NDPC in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister who launched the Report said the NDPC required Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to monitor, evaluate and report on the progress of implementation of government policies and programmes.
He said over the years, MMDAs have submitted their progress reports to the NDPC though many did not meet the required timelines, some tremendous achievements have been chocked.
He said the evaluation report identified some challenges including data limitations, which affected the quality of reports produced and inadvertently affected the decisions made at national, regional and district levels.
He noted that there was limited information in the reports for the core indicators and the district specific indicators and called on the stakeholders to provide concrete feedback to the NDPC to improve upon the data provided for the preparation of the progress reports.
Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, Director General of NDPC said the Commission in fulfilment of its constitutional mandate prepared the current Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework which would help the country achieve its vision of development and to become a prosperous nation.
He said the policy framework provided the vision, goals and objectives, as well as strategic direction for the development of the nation within the medium-term and further explained that through the implementation process, a mid–term evaluation was conducted in 2020.
He described the DLT as a necessary tool to access the performance of District Assemblies and alerting them on where they could improve upon.
Dr Mensah-Abrampa, however, expressed worry about the lack of logistics to work with at the district level which often led to some officers conjuring figures and statistics which did not augur well for the developmental agenda of the country.
GNA