PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Performance Management

Performance Management

Introduction

One important lesson learned from many OECD reform experiences is that when a government switches its focus from measuring whether a program is “on track” to whether the program is achieving its desired objectives or goals (results), the program's overall performance improves. (Performance means here to assume a measurable level of program and policy effectiveness and efficiency.) Improvements can come in different forms—for example, emphasizing more productivity, more public reliance on private markets, more decentralization from national to sub national units of government, clear lines of responsibility and accountability, more responsiveness to citizens as clients, and an increased capacity to monitor and evaluate the performance of the public sector.

Discussion

Whatever the chosen means, these strategies emphasize that governments should achieve the results they promise to their citizens. It also then follows that if governments are to achieve these promised results, they should be able to provide to their citizens evidence of having done so. That evidence should be transparent, trustworthy, and readily available. A performance-based or results-based (we use the terms interchangeably) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system is an important tool that allows governments to acquire this evidence.

The challenge is how governments can begin to build performance-based monitoring and evaluation systems so as to provide credible and trustworthy information for their own use and to share with their citizens. The reality is that putting in place even a rudimentary scheme of monitoring, assessing, and describing on government performance is not very simple in the best of circumstances. The obstacles for developing countries are even greater and more formidable, even as they begin to construct more traditional M&E systems. These more traditional systems typically are used to assess the progress and track the implementation of government projects, programs, and policies.

It should also be acknowledged that it is not a new ...