Asia Pacific Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results

(CoP-MfDR)

2008 Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 11th November 2008 to 14th November 2008 and was co-hosted by the Ministry of Plan Implementation and Asian Development Bank. Delegates from 25 countries in the Asia Pacific Region attended this meeting to obtain first hand progress made to institutionalize Managing for Development Results (MfDR) Government wide in Sri Lanka.

It is indeed an honour for Sri Lanka to be selected as the venue for this meeting, given the fact that the country has made considerable progress on MfDR efforts. This forum was also attended by the Senior Government officials, donors and development partners. The UNDP is supporting the institutionalizing of MfDR within government; and the ADB has provided assistance towards readiness assessment and capacity building.

The Asia Pacific Annual Meeting of the CoP- MfDR was supported by the Asian Development Bank and this meeting offered an excellent forum for the mutual exchange of ideas in the region.          
The Asia Pacific CoP-MfDR appreciated the emerging good practices of MfDR in Sri Lanka.

www.adb.org/MfDR/CoP/

Launch of the e-DIMS

Minister of Plan Implementation Hon. P. Dayaratne is Launching  the e-Development Information Management System  (e-DIMS) of the Ministry of Plan Implementation on 02nd October 2008  at the Waters Edge .

Several donors, NGO’s and senior officials participated in the programme.

National WorkShop on the Evaluation of the Implementation of the Paris Declaration
on Aid Effectiveness, held on 12th August,2008

The Ministry of Plan Implementation in keeping with its mandate as the National Focal point for monitoring and evaluation undertook the evaluation of the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in Sri Lanka and based on these finding provided inputs for the global evaluation of the Paris Declaration.
  
The National workshop was conducted to disseminate the findings of the two studies - the Sri Lankan Evaluation and the Global Evaluation Synthesis.  Secretaries to Ministries and other Senior Government officials, representatives of the donor community in Sri Lanka and representatives of the Civil Society organizations participated at the workshop.

Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake, Secretary Ministry of Plan Implementation made the Opening address and referred to the need to focus on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness with the view to improve the quality of aid to realize the objective of ensuring highest level of impact on the country’s developments programmes, for which aid is obtained. She also made specific reference to the importance of the concepts of institutionalizing Managing for Development Results (MfDR), which is an important principle of the Paris Declaration on which the major focus of the Ministry of Plan Implementation has been placed.

Mr. Neil Buhne, Resident Representative, UNDP spoke on the importance of the Paris Declaration from the country perspective and appreciated the role played by MPI in national and global context to take the aid effectiveness agenda forward.

Mr. V. Sivagnanasothy Director General Department of Foreign Aid and Budget Monitoring presented the synopsis of the Global Evaluation synthesis on the Implementation of the Paris Declaration while Mr. Asoka Gunawardena, Consultant to the Ministry of Plan Implementation presented the findings of the Evaluation in respect of the implementation of the Paris Declaration in Sri Lanka.    

The presentations were followed by a panel discussion which included Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake, Secretary Ministry of Plan Implementation, Mr. S. Amarasekera, Secretary Ministry Highways and Road Development, Mr Neil Buhne Resident Representative UNDP and the two presenters.       

The emphasis to broaden and deepen ownership, use country systems, harmonize donor procedures and arrangements, institutionalize results focus and improve accountability, transparency and governance were strongly stressed.

Medium term predictability, use of country systems, untying of aid, mutually agreed conditionalities, division of labour and need based capacity development were identified as core for aid effectiveness.

The need to localized an action agenda on Paris Declaration for Sri Lanka was endorsed by the forum.

Workshop to Institutionalize the Managing for Development Results

Ministry of Plan Implementation (MPI) conducted a workshop on 13th March 2008 to present the Agency Results Frame works (ARF) and score cards developed by the following line ministries in Phase I under the UNDP TA Project.

This workshop chaired by the Mr. Lalith Weeratunge, Secretary to the President who addressed participants on the importance of this endeavor and the benefits that will accrue when the MfDR approach is institutionalized in Government.

Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake. Secretary, Ministry of Plan Implementation made the opening remarks which emphasized on the importance of institutionalizing managing for development results in the Ministries and Agencies.

This Workshop was attended by Secretaries, Senior Officers of line Ministries and Development Partners.

The workshop also discussed the experiences of the five Phase I Ministries in developing the ARF’s and the way forward. The workshop concluded that MfDR should be institutionalized all line Ministries and Departments.

National workshop to discuss the Interim Evaluation Report on the Implementation of Paris Declaration in Sri Lanka

Ministry of Plan Implementation (MPI) conducted a National workshop to discuss the interim Evaluation Report on Implementation of Paris Declaration in Sri Lanka on 18th December 2007 in Colombo. This National Workshop was attended by Secretaries, Senior Officers of line Ministries and Development Partners. This National workshop discussed the interim Evaluation findings on the implementation of the Paris Declaration in Sri Lanka. This initiative is supported by UNDP under the TA Project for "Strengthen the Plan Implementation Capacity".

The national workshop was inaugurated by the Secretary, Ministry of Plan Implementation Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake. Secretary MPI made the opening remarks which emphsesed on the importance of the evaluation of Paris Declaration in the national context.

Further, a presentation on Importance of the Evaluation of the Paris Declaration was made by Mr. Niels Dabelstein, Co-chair on Evaluation of Paris Declaration (OECD/DAC) Danish Institute for International Studies where he emphasized on the importance of evaluation in the global learning context. The Interim Evaluation Report on Paris Declaration in Sri Lanka was presented by Mr. Asoka Gunawardena, National Consultant of MPI.

The panel discussion was chaired by Secretary, Ministry of Plan Implementation Mrs. Dhara Wijayatilake and included other members namely Mr. S. Amarasekara, Secretary, Ministry of Highways and Road Development, Mr. Daya Liyange, Chairman, National Procurement Agency, Mr. Niels Dabelstein, Co-chair on Evaluation of Paris Declaration, (OECD/DAC), Danish Institute for International Studies, Mr. Douglas Keh, Country Director, UNDP, Mr. Richard Vokes, Country Director, Asian Development Bank, and Mrs. Naoko Ishii, Country Director, World Bank.

The final evaluation report will take into consideration the views expressed by the stakeholders. Board

Sensitization of Policymakers and senior official on RBM

The UNDP - TA Project titled Strengthening Plan Implementation Capacity supported the Ministry of Plan Implementation to obtain the services of Dr. Ray Rist, Advisor to the World Bank and renowned expert in this field of Results Based Management.

The Ministry of Plan Implementation conducted a sensitization programme on Results Base Management to the Hon. Ministers and Secretaries to line Ministries on 11th December 2007 at Waters Edge, Battaramulla. The Workshop was attended by Hon. Ministers, Members of Parliament and Development Partners such as UNDP, World Bank, ADB. etc. Dr. Ray Rist in his presentation emphasized the need to track outcomes and impacts of development programmes rather than purely monitoring of inputs and activities. Through his worldwide experience, Dr. Rist shared the regional and international experiences of various countries in the efforts to institutionalize RBM.

Commencement of Work for the New Year - 2008