Improved arrangements for monitoring and evaluation are integral to the PRSP concept. Experience to date underlines that PRS monitoring is critical to the success of the whole PRSP experiment, but also extremely difficult to set up in a way that really challenges entrenched ways of doing things and enhances commitment to poverty reduction efforts and accountability for results.
Within DFID, Social Development Advisers in Africa region have taken a lead, in collaboration with Statistics Advisers, in supporting the development of PRS monitoring systems. Country-based activities have been supplemented, at regional level, with efforts to identify and disseminate good practice. However, until this workshop, there had not been a regional-level gathering of SDAs and Statistics Advisers to share country experiences and consider the larger policy issues raised by PRS monitoring.
Participants in the workshop comprised SDAs and Statistics Advisers from DFID country offices, along with key national counterparts and other advisers. As well as providing a forum for sharing experiences and drawing lessons, the workshop aimed to generate sharper instruments and better strategies for supporting the development of national monitoring and accountability systems within the PRS framework. A team of experts from ODI was contracted to provide technical support to the workshop, and they have also taken responsibility for drafting this report.