THE Government is seeking to strengthen oversight of development projects and public programmes by equipping regional and local government officials with skills to assess performance, identify implementation gaps and ensure public funds deliver value for money.
The initiative is being implemented through specialised training organised by the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliament, Coordination and Persons with Disabilities), in collaboration with the Open University of Tanzania.
The six-day training, taking place in Morogoro, brings together monitoring and evaluation officers from regional secretariats and councils, with the aim of improving how government policies, plans and development projects are tracked and assessed.
The training focuses on strengthening participants’ ability to collect, analyse and use performance data to determine whether government interventions are achieving their intended objectives.
Speaking during the programme, Open University of Tanzania coordinator and Senior Lecturer Emmanuel Malya said the skills would enable officers to conduct evidence-based assessments and use reliable information to guide decisions.
He said effective monitoring and evaluation were essential in identifying weaknesses in project implementation and ensuring that decisions to improve public services were based on evidence rather than assumptions.
Mr Malya said the first phase involved officials from the regional secretariats of Mwanza, Kagera and Tanga, alongside selected councils in Dodoma Region.
He said the programme was part of broader government efforts to improve accountability, efficiency and the management of development activities at regional and council levels.
Speaking on behalf of the Director of the Department of Government Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Sakina Mwinyimkuu, Dr Ashura Seleman said the training would be conducted continuously to ensure officials acquired the technical capacity needed to carry out their responsibilities professionally.
She said properly conducted monitoring and evaluation would help government institutions establish what was working, identify challenges and address weaknesses before they undermined the delivery of development projects.
Dr Seleman said the Government was placing greater emphasis on strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure public programmes were assessed against their planned targets and expected outcomes.
She added that information generated through these processes should inform decisions on improving implementation rather than simply serving as administrative records.
For citizens, stronger monitoring systems could help improve the use of public resources by enabling authorities to identify delayed projects, implementation weaknesses and gaps in service delivery.
Some participants said the training would improve their ability to supervise government activities and assess whether resources allocated to development programmes were producing the expected results.
They said they would also strengthen the use of monitoring and evaluation reports to identify challenges at an early stage and advise authorities on appropriate corrective measures.
At the end of the six-day practical programme, participants are expected to produce two key documents: an Annual Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (M&E Plan) and an Operational Monitoring and Evaluation Manual.
The documents are intended to provide a framework for planning, conducting and standardising monitoring and evaluation activities across the participating institutions.