SPEECH BY MS. ANNE WAIGURU, OGW, CABINET

SECRETARY MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING

ON THE OCCASION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING

CEREMONY OF THE 2013 NATIONAL MONITORING AND

EVALUATION (M&E) WEEK CONFERENCE LAICO

REGENCY HOTEL, TUESDAY, 12TH NOVEMBER, 2013.

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Cabinet Secretaries 1

Chairman of the Council of Governors

Governors

Principal Secretaries

Development Partners

International and Regional Guests

Representatives from the Civil Society Organizations

Public servants

Members of Evaluation Society of Kenya

Members of the Media Fraternity

Invited Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen2

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address you

this morning and welcome you to this conference on the

occasion of the “Monitoring & Evaluation Week”. The

conference is anticipated to provide a rich platform to share

different experiences on monitoring and evaluation. I wish to

extend a special welcome to those of you who have come

from far, including other countries, for accepting our

invitations to participate in this conference. As we say here,

Karibuni Kenya.

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This Conference has been organised by my Ministry in

collaboration with other development partners and

stakeholders in development work. I want from the onset to

thank you all, for this event marks a key milestone in my

Ministry. The theme of 2013 National Monitoring and

Evaluation Week ‘Kenya at 50: Best Practices in

Shaping the Future Towards Vision 2030 ‘ indeed

resonates with the reflective mood that we are all going

through as a country as we prepare to celebrate 50 years of

independence. The Occasion could not have come at a better

time.4

Ladies and gentlemen

I am also delighted to note that the M&E Week will be an

annual event that will be celebrated every 45th week of our

calendar year. The Week provides a platform for M&E

practitioners drawn from the devolved, national and

international levels to show case and learn from each other

on M&E practices.

It will also provide an opportunity for counties to learn from

each other as they implement their respective development

programmes in an endeavour to deliver development results 5

that are in tandem with the Kenya Vision 2030. The event is

expected to help us build the desirable culture of M&E.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My Ministry is charged with the responsibility of coordinating

National Development Planning including monitoring and

evaluation of economic trends among other responsibilities.

As such, it is the responsibility of the Ministry to ensure that

the government tracks the implementation of policies and

programmes to ensure sustainable development and

achievement of results.6

The Conference provides us with two clear opportunities.

First, it enables the Ministry to build strong linkages with

other stakeholders as a basis for improving reporting and

feedback mechanisms on all development efforts through a

functioning monitoring and evaluation system; and secondly,

in line with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, it brings out to

the fore our commitment towards fostering transparency,

accountability and good governance, which are key

ingredients to sustainable development.

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Distinguished Guests

Kenya has embarked on the implementation of the 2nd

Medium Term Plan 2013-2017 which aims to transform

Kenya through fostering devolution, socio-economic

development, equity and national unity. During the five year

period starting 2013, the government will endeavour to

deliver accelerated and inclusive economic growth, higher

living standards, better education and health care, increased

job creation especially for the youth and women, and

commercialised agriculture to provide higher rural incomes

and affordable food for improved living standards.8

These commitments will put the government under pressure

to achieve and demonstrate results. The role of monitoring

and evaluation therefore becomes paramount in tracking the

implementation of these policies and programmes to gauge

their performance and provide timely information and

feedback mechanism to decision makers.

Distinguished Guests

As you are all aware, the Ministry has since 2004 been

coordinating the implementation of the National Integrated

Monitoring and Evaluation System (NIMES) in the country. 9

We have used NIMES to track the progress made in the

implementation of policies and programmes with the view of

providing feedback to planning, budgeting and policy

formulation.

The NIMES engages stakeholders drawn from the public

sector and non-state actors at both the national and

devolved levels to undertake joint monitoring and

evaluations exercises. Considerable progress has been made

in fostering an M&E culture; and, it is therefore our wish that 10

events like this be used as a forum to review the journey we

have walked, successes we have made and the challenges

ahead.

Today we are going to launch one of our NIMES products,

which is the “Comprehensive Public Expenditure Review”

(CPER) which provides an in depth analysis over the last

three years on the sectoral expenditures and the results

achieved from the same. It provides an assessment of the

extent to which public expenditure addresses national 11

priorities in an effort to strengthen the link between

government policies, planning and budgeting. This is a useful

tool for policy makers and practitioners, to aid us in making

informed decisions.

Ladies and Gentlemen

This conference has been convened as part of the

government’s strategy of providing a platform to mobilise

support for performance measurement within the paradigm

of managing for development results.

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I am informed that yesterday, you were able to go through a

session moderated by the Kenya Community of Practice on

Managing for Development Results (KCoP-MfDR) that is

affiliated to the Africa Community of Practice (AfCoP-MfDR)

on managing for development results.

The Kenya Community of Practise is one of those partnership

platforms that my Ministry is coordinating to promote a

results culture to deliver the country’s transformation

agenda through dialogue and key institutional support. This

is made up of a coalition of leaders drawn from the 13

government, private sector, civil society organisations and

representative of the youth whose primary vision is to

change the lives of the people through sustainable

improvement of human development outcomes. This is by

seeking to strengthen public sector management systems to

build capable states; strengthening results- oriented

organisations for better service delivery; enhancing regional

convergence; and promoting south-south knowledge sharing.

Today we shall be re-launching the Kenya Community of

Practise Managing for Development Results web-page.14

Ladies and Gentlemen

As I draw to a conclusion, let me draw point out the fact that

in the coming days, you are going to have an opportunity to

interact with thought leaders in various aspects of

monitoring and evaluation who are going to engage with you

in panel discussions and deliver outstanding presentations. I

would wish to urge each one of you to take advantage of the

market place of ideas that presents itself and engage with 15

the various ideas that are going to be shared during these

four days of the conference to add value to our work. Use

this opportunity to gather as much as possible so that when

you go back to your various organisations, you can be the

catalyst that will jump start your respective organisations

towards integrating monitoring and evaluation in

development operations.

Thank You

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