Closing remarks by mr. Stephen wainaina, economic planning secretary, office of the prime minister, ministry of state for planning, national development and vision 2030 during the indicators development training workshop held at Kenya commercial bank institute, Karen, 30th may 2008

Director, M&E – Mr Machuka,
Advisor, M&E - Dr Daly,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my pleasure to be here today to close this indicator development training workshop. I am aware that this is the second workshop in a series of training sessions on indicator development, baseline and target setting. You are all aware that indicators are an integral part of a result-based accountability system as they provide a basis for progress or performance assessment and reporting. Indicators enable decision-makers to assess progress towards achievement of intended outputs, outcomes and impact. This makes the training you have just attended very critical as we move forward.

Distinguished participants:
I have gone through the training objectives and established that the topics you covered here and the exercises that you undertook have been well selected, thought out, varied and are indeed highly educative. I believe that you have learnt a lot and are now better equipped to address issue regarding indicators in your respective ministries and sectors. You are therefore expected to use the knowledge you have gained from this training to develop indicators, collect baseline data and set targets for monitoring the Vision 2030 Medium Term Plan and your own Ministry’s Strategic Plans. In this regard, I wish to urge you to move with speed and put in place necessary mechanisms within your ministries and respective sectors that would enable the ministry or sector address any indicators’ related issues.

I wish further to reiterate that the government is committed to achieving tangible results geared towards improved economic and social well being of Kenyans. The Kenya Vision 2030, the country's blueprint covering the period 2008 to 2030, aims at making Kenya a newly industrializing, "middle income country providing high quality life for all its citizens by the year 2030” . A clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to Results Based Management is the recognition of monitoring and evaluation in the ERS and subsequently in the Kenya Vision 2030 as a tool for improving governance and accountability in the delivery of public service. For the successful implementation of the IP ERS the government identified the need for a sound and reliable monitoring and evaluation mechanism for tracking and assessing the implementation of government policies, programs and activities. The M&E system is meant to provide a way to ensure that the strategies, priorities and targets identified are efficiently and effectively implemented in order to achieve desired developmental outcomes.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
As you are all aware, the establishment of a National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (NIMES) covering both National and District Levels is already in progress. The successful implementation of Kenya Vision 2030 through successive MTPs will rely heavily on this background. We expect to produce regular Annual Progress Reports (APR)s. The APR is a document prepared within the NIMES framework and is agreed upon by Government and Development Partners as a reference point to monitor and evaluate performance of the country. The APR is an effective tool in planning, budgeting and setting the agenda for the following year and seeks to influence the allocation of resources to areas that highly contribute to improvement of peoples’ social and economic well being.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
In the IP-ERS 31 core indicators were selected from a list of more than 180 indicators identified through a consultative process and were reported on in various Annual Progress Reports (APRs). However, during the preparation of the IP ERS APRs, it emerged that the indicators were not comprehensive enough to adequately cover and summarize progress made in all sectors or ministries. Moreover baseline data for some of the indicators was not available.

The current indicator development exercise should therefore be viewed against the background of the weaknesses identified in the use of the current set of indicators, as well as the need to establish and implement an efficient and effective NIMES in the country. I recommend that you hold consultations with the various stakeholders to deliberate and identify and select robust, reliable, sensitive, valid, specific, useful, representative, disaggregated, simple and accessible key national, sectoral and ministerial indicators that span the various domains, including economic, social, political, environment and security. To emphasize the importance of this exercise, the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 will continue to provide a platform for dialogue on the indicators to ensure that all critical issues and challenges are addressed.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is important to emphasize that we have different reporting levels provided for under NIMES, namely: National, sectoral, ministerial and devolved levels. These reporting arrangements require that suitable indicators be identified and correctly reported for purposes of informing policy, planning, budgeting and development processes at all levels. Indicators identified at the national level are reported in the APR and provide an overall summary of the country’s performance in the year on focus. In the next financial year, 2008/09, national level indicators will be developed to help in fast tracking the implementation of the Kenya Vision 2030 through the five year Medium Term Plan. In future, we expect to track performance in districts and constituencies. You must therefore be prepared to develop indicators to track development at these levels.
In conclusion, as you leave this place, you should bear in mind that you have been entrusted with a very important responsibility of ensuring that the knowledge you have acquired is equally disseminated to others in your areas of jurisdiction. The challenge is therefore on all of you to ensure that indicators and targets set for your ministry are sufficient to measure the realization of the ministry’s and the respective sector’s objectives and goals for better life of all Kenyans.
With these remarks, it is now my pleasure to declare this indicator development training workshop officially closed.

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