In the wake of dwindling donor support, the Board Chairman of the newly launched Development Insights Hub, Prof. Peter Quartey, is urging the government to strengthen monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to drive industrial development.
Prof. Quartey, who also serves as Director of the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), believes mentoring Ghana’s youthful population is key to achieving this goal.
Speaking at the Hub’s inaugural ceremony, he noted that building the skills and competence of young people will lay the foundation for sustainable economic growth and long-term development.
“Every policy or every strategy has to be monitored and evaluated. If you look at a lot of government programmes, we do not monitor enough. The idea of this is to get young people to get into the evaluation base because they are the future generation .We are equipping them for evaluation by equipping them the needed requirement,” he said.
“It is also good for the nation because as a country we need to be evaluating programmes so that we see where there are gaps so we quickly fill the gaps. We do not have to wait till the end and realize it has failed,” he added.
For his part, the Head of Civil Service, Dr. Evans Aggrey-Darko, emphasized the Service’s renewed commitment to strong policy direction, noting that it remains central to driving continuous national growth and development.
“The civil service has an overarching mandate which is to assist the government in the formulation and implementation of public policies and mandate. What we have observed is that we need to consistently design the policies and programmes with M&E in mind. This should not be seen as an afterthought,” he reiterated.
Development Insights Hub is a not-for-profit organization established in 2022 with a broad –based vision, inclusive, equitable and sustainable development of Africa with active participation of women, youth, minorities and the vulnerable.