An assessment of stakeholder participation in monitoring and evaluation of district assembly projects and programmes in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality Assembly, Ghana

Alhassan Baba Musah,Mohammed Sulemana,Kanlisi Kaba Simon

doi:10.4314/gjds.v15i1.9

Abstract

Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) of projects and programmes promotes greater transparency and accountability in development governance. Some studies revealed that participation in Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is low. This study adopted a case study approach. A sample of 196 people participated in the study. The study revealed that stakeholder participation in M&E of projects and programmes was high among the Municipal Planning and Co-ordinating Unit (MPCU) members and the District Assembly members but low at the Zonal Council and community levels. This has impacted negatively on the transparency, accountability and the sustenance of projects and programmes. The study concludes that stakeholders were rarely involved in M&E of projects and programmes due to lack of concerted effort by the MPCU for grass root stakeholder participation and poor attitude on the part of community level stakeholders in M&E of projects and programmes. The MPCU and the Assembly members’ involvement were appreciably high whereas the Unit committee, the community and the Zonal councils’ involvement were low. The study recommends that the District Assembly through the MPCU should establish strategies such as increased engagement of the substructures in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation process, creating an enabling environment for the substructures to set their own targets, support them to meet the targets and build their capacities to report regularly to communities under them and to the Municipal Assembly. The Municipal Assembly should partner with the Sub-structures to embark on community sensitization on participatory monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes.Keywords: Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation, Stakeholders, Community Participation, Projects, Programmes, Savelugu-Nanton

Highlights

Participatory monitoring and evaluation has been triggered by the value and need for basing development on the views and priorities of ‘the local population’ which has become widely acknowledged over the last decades, leading to a practice of working with and by communities (Hilhorst & Guijt, 2006:6)
The Institute of Development Studies (1998) noted that providing stakeholders the chance to participate in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) becomes an opportunity for development organisations to focus better on their ultimate goal of improving poor people’s lives and broadening involvement in identifying change of which a clearer picture can be gained of what is really happening on the ground
The responses, which mimicked the situation on the ground, to a large extent contrasted the view of Institute of Development Studies (1998) that providing stakeholders the chance to participate in M&E becomes an opportunity for development organisations to focus better on their ultimate goal of improving poor people’s lives and broadening involvement in identifying change of which a clearer picture can be gained of what is really happening on the ground

Summary

Introduction

Participatory monitoring and evaluation has been triggered by the value and need for basing development on the views and priorities of ‘the local population’ which has become widely acknowledged over the last decades, leading to a practice of working with and by communities (Hilhorst & Guijt, 2006:6). The use of tools such as social mapping, Venn diagrams, wealth ranking, and transects have become normal practice in much development work (Hilhorst & Guijt, 2006:6). This led to ministries beginning to include participatory methodologies in guidelines provided to local governments for developing municipal development plans, such as in Benin and Mali. There is a rapidly growing interest in ensuring wider participation, and since the mid-1990s, participatory Monitoring & Evaluation (PM&E) has received increasing attention (Hilhorst & Guijt, 2006:6)

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Conclusion