The Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) has achieved its sixth consecutive clean audit.
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who tabled the annual report to Parliament on Friday, attributed the clean audit to the commitment of all officials who ensure sound controls over the financial, performance reporting and compliance monitoring environments.
According to the report, the department has improved its performance on key functions related to planning, monitoring and evaluation to contribute to the realisation of building a prosperous South Africa, as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP).
During the period under review, the department said it undertook a review of the planning system in the whole of government, with a view of improving coordination and coherence in the implementation of developmental objectives and outcomes.
“As a result, a process of developing legislation to institutionalise planning across government was started. The country needs an instrument to foster an integrated planning process,” said the department.
An Annual Budget Prioritisation Framework, otherwise known as the Budget Mandate Paper, was introduced to support departments to align their budget with NDP and Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) priorities.
While strengthening planning and prioritisation in resource allocation, the department said it is gradually improving its monitoring systems to ensure that implementation is consistent with government programmes.
As part of its monitoring function, the department conducted and published a Mid-Term Review of Government Performance.
“The review revealed that government is making good progress in some areas, [however], concerted efforts and speedy actions are required to address inequality, poverty and unemployment,” the department said.
Furthermore, the department conducted monitoring on specific elements of the service delivery system, which enabled the department to gather evidence related to the state of management practices and the experiences of citizens when accessing government services.
These included the use of Management Performance Management Tools (MPAT), Local Government Management Improvement Model (LGMIM), Frontline Service Delivery Monitoring (FSDM), the Presidential Hotline and Community Based Monitoring.
To ensure efficiency in assessing the impact of government programmes, the department reviewed the evaluation system in the past financial year. The review identified the need to allow for a more diverse evaluation system that focuses on shorter evaluations in crises periods and longer-term sectoral reviews, in collaboration with other departments and State institutions.
The department said it will continue to identify mechanisms to strengthen planning and coordination, monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that government programmes contribute to changing the lives of the people, especially youth and women, who are most affected by poverty and inequality.
In this regard, the department has initiated a process to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the National Youth Policy to strengthen monitoring of the implementation of policy by stakeholders. - SAnews.gov.za
