Finance Minister Ahmed Shide (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen stride confidently following one of many meetings being held to discuss the nation’s development plans.


Finance Minister Ahmed Shide (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen stride confidently following one of many meetings being held to discuss the nation’s development plans. Federal government agencies and their heads have recently been busy holding discussions over the 10-Year Perspective Development Plan, partly a successor to the Growth & Transformation plans, partly a strategy that attempts to build on input from the Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda, according to the planners.

The particular meeting the Finance Minister and Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister, among the higher government officials, participated in was the launch of a monitoring and evaluation system. Developed at the Ministry of Innovation & Technology to compliment the Planning & Development Commission’s follow-up of the Plan, the system is meant to enhance transparency and accountability, according to the Commission.


The system is designed to work by allowing heads of agencies to log quarterly and annual reports for monitoring by the Office of the Prime Minister. It is aimed to make the reports public by integrating them into one single platform.

The system’s effectiveness requires political commitment, underlined Fitsum Assefa (PhD), head of the Commission.



Indeed, a lack of political commitment and accountability were mentioned among the reasons that made proper monitoring and evaluation of past plans and strategies challenging. Lack of coordination between agencies, poor report management, and techniques unsupported by technology were also obstacles.

Close observers of the economic planning of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s (PhD) administration hold that this problem has continued well into the past two years, suggesting that there has not been proper evaluation and assessment of the reform efforts. There have also been questions on the accessibility of the 10-Year Perspective Plan, which has been undergoing revisions and amendments.



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