ASEAN continues improving monitoring and evaluation capacity

ASEAN continues improving monitoring and evaluation capacity

Source:  ASEAN Secretariat

HA NOI, 31 January 2019 – ASEAN continued improving its capacity to track progress of its community-building as ASEAN government officials participated in a workshop on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in Ha Noi, Vietnam, from 29 to 31 January. The three-day workshop aimed to address knowledge gaps and build capacity in the area of M&E especially in relation to the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint 2025.

One of the leaders of Senior Officials’ Committee for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council (SOCA), Ms. Ha Thi Minh Duc from Viet Nam said the workshop was much needed for ASEAN to build its monitoring and evaluation capacity. “This is especially important as ASCC will be carrying out its midterm evaluation in 2020 to understand its progress on the ASCC Blueprint 2025,” she said.

Richard Tan, SOCA Leader from Singapore, said “ASEAN is doing very good work for the citizens of ASEAN. It is important to ensure that our work has an impact on the people of ASEAN.  Hence monitoring and evaluation is a crucial element that must be developed.”

Officials from the ASEAN ministries of labour, civil service, disaster management and environment participated in the workshop.  Participants also included national representatives from SOCA.

Participants were introduced to M&E concepts and frameworks, including the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Results Framework. Participants learned of the necessity for M&E and learning to be conducted throughout a project’s life cycle, and also gained familiarity in developing evaluation strategies.  The inclusion of different sectoral bodies in the workshop provided an insight on the work plans of various sectoral bodies and their contribution to the ASCC Blueprint 2025.

The ASCC Blueprint aims to achieve an inclusive, sustainable, resilient and dynamic ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community that engages and benefits its people.  Participants discussed the development of appropriate indicators to measure the outcomes of activities within their respective work plans, which will contribute towards achieving the objectives of the ASCC Blueprint. Participants also worked together to demonstrate knowledge acquired at the workshop by producing informative leaflets.

The workshop was supported by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund.