{
  "id": 19756742,
  "title": "NDPC reviews national monitoring and evaluation manual to strengthen development planning",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/ndpc-reviews-national-monitoring-and-evaluation-manual-to-strengthen",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-13T04:33:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/ndpc-reviews-national-monitoring-and-evaluation-manual-to-strengthen-development-planning/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) initiated a stakeholder review of the second edition of Ghana's National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manual on Thursday, November 12, 2026, to enhance its utility and implementation across public organizations. The gathering encompassed representatives from government bodies, local councils, international partners, academia, research entities, and civil society organizations, who scrutinized the draft document and offered suggestions for revisions.\n\nNDPC Director-General, Dr. Audrey Smock Amoah, acknowledged the necessity of the revision to align with recent changes in Ghana's legal, institutional, and development planning landscape since the initial manual release in 2013. She clarified that the updated manual was not intended to supplant the current national monitoring and evaluation framework but to enhance its functionality in supporting development planning efforts. Dr. Smock Amoah emphasized that monitoring and evaluation should be integrated into the design phase of policies, plans, programs, and projects, rather than being conducted post-implementation. She stressed that insights derived from this process should inform project execution, budgetary decisions, policymaking, and institutional accountability measures.\n\nBright Yaw Atiase, the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the NDPC, encouraged participants to actively contribute, particularly regarding institutional mandates, reporting protocols, monitoring instruments, and the practicality of applying the guidelines nationwide and locally. Atiase underscored that the manual was intended for widespread use throughout Ghana's development planning framework, not solely for NDPC internal use. He highlighted knowledge management as a crucial enhancement, explaining that bolstering the generation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge would improve policy formulation and management decisions.\n\nThe stakeholder review is anticipated to yield consolidated recommendations, agreed modifications to the draft, appointed institutional focal persons, and a schedule for completing the second edition of the manual. Participants comprised representatives from various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, Regional Coordinating Councils, Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies, development collaborators, universities, research institutions, M&E professional bodies, and civil society organizations.",
  "summary": "The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has begun a stakeholder review of the second edition of Ghana’s National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manual to improve its effectiveness and application across public institutions.",
  "key_points": [
    "NDPC reviews 2026 edition of Ghana's National M&E Manual",
    "Stakeholders from government, academia, civil society consulted",
    "Manual aims to enhance development planning integration"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Updating the national monitoring manual shifts evaluation from a post-implementation formality to a proactive design tool that informs budgetary decisions and institutional accountability across Ghana's entire planning landscape.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}