Abuja — The three-day retreat of Focal Points of Directorates and Services on the 2011 Performance Assessment Report of the ECOWAS Commission has ended in Akwanga, near the Nigerian capital, Abuja, after agreeing a roadmap for ensuring that a finalized Report is submitted to the Commission's management by the end of March 2012. The meeting conducted in plenary and working sessions, with presentations from resource persons, was charged with finalizing the 2011 performance data for the Commission's directorates and services.
The Participants also had an insight into the 2012 work programme and budget of each directorate and service. Opening the retreat, on behalf of the President of the Commission His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, the Vice-President Mr, Jean de Dieu Somda, had challenged directors and programme managers at the Commission and other Community institutions to use the draft Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manual which came into force on 1st December 2011 at the Commission as a tool for effective implementation of regional integration programmes and activities. He said the tool would enable the Commission, other Community institutions and Member States to assess the performance of integration programmes and activities against set targets.
The M&E system for all ECOWAS institutions is a flexible mechanism capable of harmonizing the different systems internal to each ECOWAS Department, institution and structure. It is designed to ensure optimal centralization of data collection procedure at the different sectoral, decentralized level, and to provide a better indication of overall progress recorded in the regional integration process.
Vice-President Somda thanked development partners especially the German International Cooperation Agency and its US counterpart the USAID, for supporting the development of the ECOWAS M&E system and called for sustained collaboration towards the realization of the Commission's overarching goal of people-centred integration. In his remarks, the Head, M&E Unit, ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Akou Adjogou, urged participants to respect the deadlines for the finalization and submission of the Performance Assessment Report bearing in mind the Commission's Strategic Plan (ECSP) 2011-2015. The aim of the ECSP is to have a Commission that is organized and resourced to facilitate a globally competitive region which enjoys high living standards through full integration, good governance, security, as well as political and economic stability.
Closing the retreat on behalf of the Vice-President, the Acting Director of Customs at the Commission Mr. Salifou Tiemtore, commended participants for the quality of their contributions, which he said would enrich the Performance Assessment Report. He expressed the hope that the implementation of the programmes and activities of the Commission and other Community Institutions using the M&E tool would bring maximum benefits to the citizens in line with ECOWAS Vision 2020.
