Friday, 26 January 2024:
The Government of Nepal National Planning Commission (NPC) is currently in the process of formulating the 16th Five-year Plan of Nepal for the next five years (2081/82-2085/86 B.S.). The main theme of the five-year Plan is “Good Governance, Social Justice, and Prosperity.” The objectives of the plan are as follows: 1) Promote good governance in the political, administrative, and judicial sectors; 2) Establish social justice in health, education, employment, housing, and other sectors; and 3) Achieve prosperity in human life and the national economy.”
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plays a vital role in achieving the objectives of the plan; therefore, the inclusion of an effective monitoring and evaluation system in the plan is essential. In this regard, with the objective to collect insights from Honorable Parliamentarians, Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), Evaluation Experts, Young and Emerging Evaluators, and other stakeholders, the National Assembly Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee, and the Community of Evaluators – Nepal (CoE-Nepal) jointly organized a meeting entitled “Suggestion Collection on Monitoring & Evaluation in the 16th Five-year Plan.” The meeting was held at the National Assembly Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee, Singhdurbar, Kathmandu, on Friday, 26 January 2024.
The meeting was chaired by Honorable Prakash Pantha, Chairperson of the National Assembly Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee. In the meeting, Dr. Ram Chandra Khanal, Former Chairperson and Adviser of the Community of Evaluators – Nepal (CoE-Nepal), presented the suggestions prepared based on those received from the members of CoE-Nepal and Nepal Evaluation Society (NES) on M&E recommended to be included in the upcoming 16th Five-year Plan of Nepal.
In the meeting, Hon. Narayan Prasad Dahal, Member of National Assembly Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee, emphasizes the necessity of an effective monitoring and evaluation system in the development process. Hon. Sarada Devi Bhatta, Member of National Assembly Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee, highlighted the need of coordination with national and international networks related to monitoring and evaluation by conducting regular meetings and programs. Likewise, Hon. Ramesh Paudyal, Steering Committee Member of the Asia Pacific Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation (APPFE), emphasized the importance of providing specific suggestions.
Dr. Rojnath Pandey, Secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, highlighted suggestions on strengthening the M&E Framework, National Portal on Data Entry, enhancing the baseline data, use of evaluation findings and good practices, information sharing, oversight of different levels of committees, etc. and suggested to share any additional thoughts by 27 January 2024. The suggestions will be handed over by the National Assembly Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee to the National Planning Commission at the final meeting on the draft of the 16th Five-year Plan to be held on 29 January 2024.
The participants of the meeting shared their thoughts on the presented suggestions and agreed on them. The meeting was concluded with remarks by Hon. Prakash Pantha, Chairperson of the National Assembly Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee.
Participants of the meeting:
- Hon. Prakash Pantha, Chairperson, Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee, National Assembly
- Hon. Narayan Prasad Dahal, Member, Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee, National Assembly
- Hon. Sarada Devi Bhatta, Member, Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee, National Assembly
- Hon. Ramesh Paudyal, Steering Committee Member of Asia Pacific Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation (APPFE)
- Dr. Rojnath Pandey – Secretary, Secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat
- Mr. Kancha Dulal – Vice Secretary, Secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat
- Mr. Prabin Chitrakar, Chairperson, Community of Evaluators – Nepal (CoE-Nepal)
- Mr. Jhank Narayan Shrestha, General Secretary, Nepal Evaluation Society (NES)
- Dr. Ramesh Tuladhar, Founder Chairperson and Adviser, CoE-Nepal
- Dr. Ram Chandra Khanal, Former Chairperson and Adviser, CoE-Nepal
- Dr. Thakur Prasad Bhatta, Former Chairperson and Executive Committee Member, CoE-Nepal
- Ms. Sunaina Sharma, Treasurer, CoE-Nepal
- Mr. Ujjwal Krishna Mali, Executive Committee Member, CoE-Nepal
- Mr. Basan Shrestha, Member, CoE-Nepal / NES
- Mr. Prabin Nanicha Shrestha, EvalYouth Nepal
The suggestions (Nepali version) that were presented during the meeting are as below file.