The government has decided to establish "Performance and Learning Cell (PLC)" for supporting governance reforms in the country with the cooperation of Asian Development Bank. According to official sources, this project will be completed within next three year with the total cost of one million dollar.
According to an update project report of ADB, accountability, quality assurance, and learning from experience are the key principles embodied in ADB's programmes supporting governance reforms. These principles focus on four areas: (i) legal and policy basis of reforms, (ii) budget management and accountability, (iii) institutional strengthening and capacity building efforts, and (iv) performance of endowment and grant fund resource pools.
Effective monitoring and evaluation is also essential to the annual performance review approach adopted by DSP and AJP that provides for systematic input by district-level authorities and civil society, extending to province and then federal level. This "bottom-up" monitoring process is unfamiliar, and, in many respects, contrary to the culture of executive and judicial practices in Pakistan.
In addition to the imperative to monitor, evaluate, and provide coherent program and policy advice to DSP and AJP IAs, analytical reports must be available to enable program managers and policymakers to learn lessons from experience. Additional support is essential for effective monitoring and evaluation of governance programs and policy outcomes.
The scope of governance reforms is challenging in terms of its magnitude, diversity and expected impact. In order to effectively and efficiently capture, analyse, and document lessons learned to inform ongoing program implementation and design of future programs, institutional learning capacity must be a key dimension of the performance review function.
Given the complexity of the issues being addressed under the technical assistance cluster (TAC) for support to governance reforms, it is imperative to involve consultants who have the capacity to contribute to the learning process with some continuity over time.
PLC will comprise a core team of international and national consultants with expertise in the broad range of TA initiatives undertaken through all subprojects under the TAC. The PLC will undertake periodic (biannual) reviews of TAC activities. It can also provide more specific technical inputs in areas where international experience is sought.
Options for locating the PLC or selected functions of the PLC, within an appropriate national development organisation will be further explored. It is anticipated that some functions of the PLC will be managed by the Pakistan Resident Mission directly (ie, through the APR).
PLC will be comprised a governance specialist and sector experts on justice sector domains (judiciary, police and public safety, administrative justice, bar reforms, alternative dispute resolution), devolution (political, administrative, and fiscal), public financial management, civil society-state relations, anti-corruption, capacity development, monitoring and evaluation, research and communications, as well as analysis of poverty dimensions and the nexus with governance structures.
The governance specialist will have expertise in a broad range of governance issues, with specific expertise in at least two of the four technical subproject disciplines (justice; devolution; public financial management; and transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption).
The team will undertake APRs over the three-year duration of the TAC, as well as periodic technical reviews, as required. The APRs will encompass all TAC initiatives and will assess the contribution of the subprojects and TAC initiatives to the expected impact of the TAC as a whole.
In addition to the aforementioned functions, the PLC will be in particular responsible for (i) providing secretarial services for the TAC Steering Committee. (ii) supporting APRs of the TAC.
The APRs shall evaluate performance of all TAC initiatives, including subprojects reports of which shall be shared with all IAs and stakeholders. (iii) Providing specific technical inputs in areas where international experience is sought. (iv) Carrying out impact studies to assess contributions from ADB's support to improving development effectiveness.
For this, coordination meetings will need to be held, studies conducted, and effectiveness and impact reports prepared. (v) Compiling and reviewing lessons followed by dissemination through appropriate forums, conferences and workshops, both national and international.
(vi) Providing timely and effective secretarial support to TAC operations, including design of subclusters and/or subprojects. (vii) Holding policy dialogues on governance reforms, publishing research papers and/or policy briefs, and ensuring wide dissemination through conferences and workshops. Resulting feedback and inputs should then be incorporated into TAC interventions.
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