Auki, Honiara, Solomon Islands – The Provincial Governance and Service Delivery Project (PGSD) has successfully concluded a comprehensive  three-day Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Workshop aimed at enhancing the capacity of provincial government officers in Malaita, Makira and RenBel provinces. 

The workshop, held in Auki from 29 July to 2 August, 2024 brought together government officials, provincial officers, and key stakeholders to focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programs reporting and implementation.

The workshop focused on key objectives such as to

• enhance understanding of M&E fundamentals with participants gaining a solid foundation in the basic concepts and principles of monitoring and evaluation.
• update on methods and tools, introducing new methods, approaches, and tools for effective M&E activities.
• improve data collection skills with emphasis placed on accurate, consistent, and reliable data collection processes.
• utilize M&E findings effectively, highlighting the importance of using M&E findings to improve project performance and make evidence-based decisions.

The workshop included a mix of presentations, brainstorming sessions, and hands-on training, providing participants with practical skills and tools to enhance their M&E capabilities as well as their programs implementation skills.

 Sessions were organized to inform the Provincial Government officers about the national WASH standards and to provide a general understanding of high standard monitoring, evaluation, and data collection processes.

M&E is a critical component in the lifecycle of any project, enabling stakeholders to track progress, assess results, and make informed decisions. Recognizing the need for a robust M&E framework, PGSD in partnership with the Ministry of Provincial Governments and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS), conducted the workshop to promote a sound, inclusive, and accountable governance system for sub-national service delivery. Aligning with this objective, the project also provided provincial government officers with electronic tablets to modernize monitoring and evaluation practices.

One of the main obstacles met by developing partners in Solomon Islands is the capacity around collecting high-quality data to design, budget, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate projects. However, the PGSD project, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP, is helping to save this obstacle by not only strengthening the monitoring and evaluation practice but also modernizing it with electronic tools.

The introduction of electronic tablets is set to revolutionize how provincial government officers monitor and evaluate the implemented activities of the project.With the tablets, officers can  perform real-time data collection and analysis, significantly enhancing their reports which they familiarized themselves with as part of the M&E training they participated in earlier.