Improved governance systems and performance at the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) have resulted in the department achieving a clean audit outcome for the 10th time in succession.
Tabling the department’s annual report for the financial year 2021/2022 in Parliament on Tuesday, Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, said the audit outcome was backed by an 80% performance achievement against the Annual Performance Plan (APP).
“We are proud that the department has registered such a remarkable achievement and milestone. Governance and financial controls are critical elements of a functioning institution and should always be strengthened for consistency in the delivery of services,” Gungubele said.
He said the annual report is a testament of the strength of the department’s governance system and commitment to build a capable, developmental and ethical State, as envisaged in the National Development Plan Vision 2030 and Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2019 – 2024.
In its performance, the department, working together with the National Planning Commission (NPC), continued to implement its commitment to institutionalise planning in government, monitor outcomes and evaluate government programmes.
In advancing the institutionalisation of planning in government, the department conceptualised and developed the National Annual Strategic Plan (NASP) to facilitate alignment and prioritisation of medium-term plans and priorities within a particular year.
The department also developed guidelines on the institutionalisation of the MTSF to support the integration of its priorities and targets across the planning system; produced the Policy Framework for Integrated Planning to strengthen coherence and harmonisation across the planning system.
In addition, an assessment on all national and provincial draft Strategic and Annual Performance Plans were conducted to improve the quality of institutional plans and alignment with the MTSF and NASP.
Moreover, the department produced the Budget Prioritisation Framework to facilitate alignment of the 2022 national budget process with short-, medium- and long-term priorities of government and ensure that key plans are adequately resourced to support development outcomes.
In order to foster accountability in the implementation of key programmes and determine progress in the realisation of envisaged outcomes, the department continued to deploy its monitoring and evaluation capability in all spheres of government.
Subsequently, the department produced two bi-annual reports and catalysed critical policy shifts.
These include the migration of Early Childhood Development programme from the Department of Social Development (DSD) to the Department of Basic Education (DBE); the development and implementation of the food nutrition plans; the implementation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on Gender-based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) and the conversion of several clinics into Ideal Clinic to ensure better health services for South Africans.
“The DPME also continued to generate useful evidence on government performance against its set priorities. As a result, four evaluation reports were produced and three of which were intended to support the management of the pandemic and to generate evidence on the vaccination drive,” Gungubele said.
These reports include the Trust in Government Report; Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance Report; and Technical Evidence report. In addition, over 3 000 evidence reports were sourced and curated to inform research and knowledge needs across the four priorities, which are Capable Ethical and Developmental State; Health Systems; Land Reform and Gender-based Violence and Femicide.
In the next financial year, the department will continue to serve as the leader and catalyst in achieving national development outcomes and impact in society.
The DPME said the appointment of the third NPC has added the much need impetus in long-term planning, mobilisation of key stakeholders and generation of critical evidence through in-depth research on key priorities.
Efforts are being made to strengthen and usher in an enhanced and synergised planning, monitoring and evaluation systems across all spheres of government.
“As the chair of the Presidency Steering Committee on the District Development Model (DDM), the DPME will ensure that this enhanced planning paradigm finds expression across all spheres of government through the District Development Model. The DPME will conduct rapid evaluations on programmes that are aimed at achieving our annual apex priorities as detailed in the NASP,” Gungubele said.
Building knowledge hubs
In addition, the DPME will continue to build a large-scale tertiary knowledge hub that will host all this evidence and link us to research outputs in various sectors.
A real-time data centre that is geographically referenced will be established to enable the President to have a line of sight of government interventions and their impact in society.
As it stands, the DPME is at the advance stage in the development of the Centralised Data Management System (CDMAS), which will enable data users to access, retrieve, analyse and visualise data.
“Our resolve is to ensure that the voices of the citizens form a bigger part of evidence that is collected by the department. Together with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), we have reintroduced the State of the Nation Address (SONA) Presidential Izimbizos, to create a platform for citizens to directly engage with government.
“We want to turnaround the experience of citizens who are reaching us through the Presidential Hotline by introducing new channels of communication. Our Plans are enriched by the feedback we receive from the communities,” the Minister said.
In this 10h anniversary of the National Development Plan (NDP), the department called upon all sectors of society to contribute in reducing poverty, unemployment and inequality.
“South Africa will grow if all citizens draw from their diverse expertise and experience to build an inclusive economy, a capable, ethical and developmental state,” the DPME said.
Source: South African Government News Agency