MANILA – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Budget and Management signed today the National Evaluation Policy Framework that calls for the purposive conduct of independent evaluation of government programs and projects.

“With numerous programs and projects being implemented, the government needs to determine whether and to what extent these benefit the people and the country,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said during the signing of the joint memorandum circular with Secretary Florencio B. Abad of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on July 15, 2015 at the NEDA Central Office, Pasig City.

“This evaluation policy framework is part of a comprehensive good governance agenda that complements reforms in planning and budgeting,” said Balisacan. “While we exert our best efforts to ensure that resources are efficiently allocated, we also need to make sure that what we spend on are actually delivering positive results,” he added.

“This joint memorandum circular is a significant step towards improving the evaluation practice in the country. This and other monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are important in assessing the progress of our development goals, and in determining whether our initiatives are making significant impact on the lives of the Filipino people,” said Balisacan, who is also NEDA Director-General.

The said framework, developed by NEDA and DBM, with support from UNICEF, structures the purposive conduct of evaluations in the public sector. By the use of standardized evaluation procedure, projects and programs nationwide will be assessed in terms of their efficiency, outcomes and impacts based on national priorities.

Implementing agencies will use the evaluation findings for recommendations and appropriate management response, including follow through actions by concerned units. Results will also be utilized as inputs to planning, budgeting, and designing of subsequent similar projects.

The policy framework applies to programs and projects being implemented by all government agencies including state universities and colleges, government-owned and/or controlled corporations and government financial institutions.

Civil society organizations and other third parties’ programs and projects contracted by a government implementing agency are also involved.

“All their implemented projects and programs, whether local or foreign funded, will be evaluated at least once at the end of the program or project lifecycle, or as frequent as necessary,” the Cabinet official said.

The secretaries of Socioeconomic Planning and Budget and Management will act as the chairperson and co-chair of the Evaluation Task Force respectively.

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