Trinidad and Tobago for the first time will host experts, practitioners and interested persons as part of a programme called gLOCAL Evaluation Week, focusing on Monitoring and Evaluation for improved evidence based decision making. The Ministry of Planning and Development, through its National Transformation Unit (NTU) will host persons from across the international monitoring and evaluation community, as well as users of performance information on June 1, 2023 in the form of virtual panel discussion from 10.30 am to 12.00 pm (AST/GMT-4). This event is in collaboration with the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI).
The National Transformation Unit is responsible for Trinidad and Tobago’s Monitoring and Evaluation system and plays an important role in ensuring that evidence generated through M&E is used to strengthen national policy, plans and projects.
The theme for the session is ‘Exploring Trinidad And Tobago’s M&E Ecosystem: Building M&E Capacity’ and Ms. Camille Spencer, Programme Director, Monitoring & Evaluation along with Mr. Andrew Spencer, Programme Coordinator, Implementation, both of the NTU, will lead the discussions. Also participating are the following international experts in monitoring and evaluation:
• Dr. Craig Barham, Chief Technical Director, Performance M&E Branch (PMEB), Office of the Cabinet, Jamaica.
• Ms. Thania de la Garza, Former Head of Former Head of Evaluation Unit for National Council for the Education of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), Mexico and GEI Consultant.
• Ms. Heather Bryant, Former Chief of Section for Capacity Development, Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/GEI.
• Dr. Edoé Djimitri Agbodjan, Director of the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) Centre for Francophone Africa.
Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles emphasizes the importance of this activity to Trinidad and Tobago’s national development trajectory, as evidence based decision making is a key part of government’s processes. Monitoring and evaluation of government’s projects, programmes and initiatives is important because it allows citizens to hold government accountable, monitor spending and project implementation and for government, M&E allows us to ensure that our initiatives are yielding the intended results, added the Planning Minister. Minister Beckles encourages local practitioners as well as citizens interested in projects and outcomes to participate in the June 1 discussion.
Participants will be a part of a rich discussion on M&E capacity development in Trinidad and Tobago through the lenses of different M&E practitioners from international, national, and local jurisdictions. Discussions will cover topics such as the history of Trinidad and Tobago’s M&E ecosystem; global trends in building capacity across M&E ecosystems; current needs of decision makers and M&E practitioners from the M&E ecosystem; differences in approaches to capacity development; pressing areas of concern/gaps within Trinidad and Tobago’s system; and the current work of M&E practitioners to develop capacity.
More details can be found at https://www.planning.gov.tt/