HARARE – Zimbabwe is focusing on development projects with parliamentarians being expected to play an important role in tracking these programmes in line with Vision 2030 aspirations.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda outlined the importance of accountability on the sidelines of a development evaluation workshop for legislators held in Harare this Saturday.
“It is critical and imperative that we contextualise the laudable theme of this workshop which is demand for and use of evidence-based evaluation “DEMAND FOR AND USE OF EVIDENCE in policy and decision making. That context is our national Vision 2030 which was promulgated in 2018 by His Excellency, the President, and Dr E.D. Mnangagwa. To that an extent, Vision 2030 is a clarion dream call by the President in that Zimbabwe must march ‘Towards a Prosperous and Empowered Upper Middle Class Income Society by 2030’,” he said.
“This Vision is premised on the fulfilment of the 17 Sustainable Goals whose objective is to better the livelihoods of the Zimbabwean citizenry. The question begs the answer as to what we mean by an empowered upper middle income society? The answer lies in having a per capita Gross National Incomes (GNI) of between US$1046 to US$12 695. How do we achieve his target? The answer lies in embracing Development Evaluation in the context of our National Development Strategy 1.”
Stakeholders noted the importance of the use of evidence-based evaluation.
African Parliamentarians’ Network for Development Evaluation (APNODE) Chairperson, Senator Chief Dr Nechombo said, “It is critical that parliamentarians have an understanding of monitoring and evaluation developmental programs. It is one thing for funds to be released and another for actual work to be done.”
“The constant monitoring and evaluation of projects is critical and parliamentarians should always ensure they interrogate progress for the dusted goal to be achieved,” noted Secretary for Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Albert Chikondo.
“Many projects are being implemented in the country and it is prudent that as parliamentarians we ensure that progress is indeed registered on the ground. So, such platforms give us a chance to be fully equipped to do so,” Member of Parliament, Honourable Torerayi Moyo noted.
Another Member of Parliament, Honourable Tendai Nyabani said, “This workshop has come at an opportune time to allow us to fully understand how we can effectively utilise our oversight role because it will be prudent for us to track these projects so that our country really develops.”
The African Parliamentarians’ Network for Development Evaluation (APNODE) is facilitating a two day workshop to sensitise parliamentarians on how they can improve their oversight role through the use of evidence based evaluation in policy and decision-making.
