This week, PERL kickstarted its support to the Ministry of Planning and Budget to operationalise the state’s M&E policy and strengthen the functionality of the department and its coordination with other Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs). The Department of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) was re-established at the Kano State Ministry of Planning and Budget in January 2022 following the passage of the Public Procurement Law and a review of the State’s M&E Policy which was supported by PERL. 

In 2021, Kano State Government passed its Public Procurement Law. The provisions of this law and the M&E policy underscored the need to transfer the M&E department from the Due Process Bureau (now Public Procurement Bureau) to the Central Planning Agency. The department is now staffed with a director and officials in the respective units. To further support the state government and the department, PERL facilitated the development of a results framework for the Education, Health, and Agriculture sectors to serve as a model and template that will guide subsequent roll-out to other sectors. PERL also facilitated learning exchanges with the Kaduna State Bureau of Statistics and the Central Delivery Coordination Unit (CDCU) at the Federal level to build requisite capacities and to further embed the M&E structure. 

To initiate this year's support, on Monday 28^th March 2022, PERL supported the department to evaluate the staff's technical capacity and the department's capability. The assessment uncovered the department's strengths and areas requiring further support. The department will be adapting the tools to assess the M&E units of other MDAs in the State. 

In his remark, Abbas Iliyasu Karaye, the Director M&E explained to his staff the objective of the assessment.  He noted that "To conduct M&E functions, some skills are required especially in ensuring that the outcome of our work feeds into the policies and plans of the state. M&E functions are not limited to tracking finance, hence the request for PERL's support so the department can function effectively".

At the end of the session, Auwalu Hamza, the PERL Kano Partnership Facilitation Manager, presented PERL's Resource Guide to the department. The Guide contains e-copies of tools for improving governance systems, processes and policies. These include public financial management, public service management, governance assessment and a host of other tools that are useful for government officials and stakeholders in the governance space.