MDG-F: Monitoring and Evaluation Action Plan of Timor Leste

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MDG-F: Monitoring and Evaluation

Action Plan of Timor Leste

With support from the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Trust Fund, the United Nations

Country Team (UNCT) is implementing two joint UN programmes in Timor-Leste, one focusing on food

security and nutrition and one on gender equality and women’s rights, in line with MDGs 1 and 3. The

country is also one of the nine MDG-F focus countries with additional support for monitoring and

evaluation and advocary on the MDGs and the joint programmes.

Strategic goal:

Following the global strategic framework, the overall goal of the initiative is to

Improve joint program quality outcomes, produce and exchange specific and general knowledge

on MDGs.

1. Evidence based decision making improves the quality of the programmes;

Key outcomes :

2. Governments and donors comply with their accountability functions and transparency

towards all partners.

Timeline: 2010 – 2012

3. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (2009-2013) was developed by the UN

agencies with joint participation of UNMIT, the Government of Timor-Leste (RDTL), and

NGOs/INGOs/CSOs. Under the overarching objective of supporting the consolidation of peace snd

stability, and in line with the MDGs, the UNDAF has three outcomes: UNDAF Outcome 1 on

Country context:

1. Timor-Leste is a country in post crisis and transition period. Timor-Leste is in a unique position as

one of the newest nations in the world. It has had a history of violent struggle for independence and

succeeded in restoring independence in 2002. The civil strife in 2006 negatively impacted on some of

the progress achieved by this small nation state with just over a million citizens. Its currently fragile

situation is that of harnessing efforts towards the nations' development while also addressing issues

that caused the conflict and humanitarian crisis of 2006.

2. The Government has expressed commitment to the MDGs, but concrete links to the MDG targets

are not yet part of the national development priorities. The broad challenge it faces is expressed by

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. “As a latecomer, we are very much aware of and prepared for the

daunting challenges we have to tackle to achieve the MDGs.” In the absence of a national development

plan, the annual National Priorities mechanism has served as the basis for national planning and

budgeting, as well as guide to the international partners of Timor-Leste including the UN since 2007.

However, there are no clear linkages between the MDGs and the national priorities yet. The country is in

the process of articulating its national development strategy under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

In his preface to the 2009 MDG Report of Timor-Leste, the Prime Minister tacitly committed to include

the MDGs in the National Development Strategic Plan for the country, “the preparation of which will

begin this year under my leadership.”

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democratization, outcome 2 on poverty reduction and disaster risk management, and outcome 3 on

basic social services. The two MDG-F joint programmes are cross-cutting all three UNDAF outcomes with

specific focuses on UNDAF outcome 3. It will contribute to the country’s development efforts on MDGs.

4. UNDAF M&E working groups were established to support the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of

the UNDAF and MDGs in Timor-Leste. Based on UNDAF framework, three M&E working groups were

established in early 2009. The main purpose of these M&E Groups is to provide technical oversight for

the consolidation of the M&E reports relating to UNDAF outcomes and provide support for the

implementation, M&E for the UNDAF outcomes, to facilitate collaboration among main partners,

including UNCT agencies and others; and to build strong constituency of stakeholders around the issues

concerned.

The UNDAF M&E working group will also provide inputs into the design of the MDG joint programming

or monitoring strategy, including provision of technical input into the formulation and implementation

of UN MDG joint programming or joint monitoring involving Government as well as facilitating linkages

with Timor-Leste DevInfo. This proposed MDG-F M&E action plan will support the M&E working group

to achieve this result.

5. M&E capacity in the Government is still very weak. Timor-Leste Devinfo, a national social and

economic database managed by the National Statistics Directorate, was created, launched and

introduced for use by sectoral ministries in December 2006, with the support of UNICEF, UNFPA and

UNDP. The database was then updated in 2008 with the data produced in the 2007 Timor-Leste Survey

of Living Standards.

The overall capacity for monitoring and evaluation in Timor-Leste is still very weak. The government

officials and other national development partners including NGOs and CSOs have neither knowledge of

basic concepts and principles of M&E, nor the tools and technical skills to implement M&E policies.

The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education are still developing systems for information and data

collection with the support of the UN. Disaggregated data, especially by gender and by geographic areas,

is insufficient. Use of data for evidence-based decision making is not yet systematic.

The MDG-F M&E action plan also includes activities to improve the capacity of government and NGOs on

monitoring and evaluation of the development programmes at both national and district level. The

training will address the challenges of limited knowledge and skills of the government officials with the

focus on assessing progress towards the MDGs, including gender-disaggregated data collection and

analysis, and how to use data (through DevInfo and conducting data analysis) for evidenced-based policy

development and decision making. The target groups will be the national senior officials such as Ministry

Proposed M&E activities:

This MDG-F Monitoring and Evaluation action plan will support the implementation of the two joint

programmes in Timor-Leste, and generate good practices and lessons learned from the implementation.

Apart from the mandatory global participatory evaluation with case study, the funds will support a

baseline study to get information of key programme monitoring indicators, especially on Knowledge,

Attitude and Practices (KAP) at household and facility level. The study will also support the Food security

and Nutrition joint programme to develop detailed intervention activities based on assessment of the

needs. The baseline information will be expected to feed into the global participatory case study

evaluation on the joint programmes.

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of Finance, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, National Food Security Committees, Counter

Trafficking working group, gender focal points in government ministries, National Statistical Directorate,

etc.). Training for the partners of the six districts that are covered by the two joint programmes will be

organized to assist the joint programmes and produce the district profiles.

In the basis of the existing Timor-Leste DevInfo, the fund will support further development of DevInfo

with the inclusion of MDG indicators in the database. It will start from a study on identification and

collection of existing data and sources, review of the data quality, as well as identification of data gaps

for the MDG indicators. Recommendations will be provided on how to fill out the data gaps. The Timor-

leste DevInfo will be updated accordingly and prepared to support future national next MDG reports.

Advocacy leaflets/brochures will be developed for MDGs with the focus on MDG 1 and MDG 3.

The key partners of the action plan will include those who are involved in the two joint programmes, as

well as the Ministry of Finance, mainly the National Statistics Dirctorate.

OVERALL GOAL

Improve joint program quality outcomes, produce and exchange specific and general knowledge

Outcomes Outputs Indicative Activities

2010 2011 2012 total

I. Evidence

based decision

making

improves the

quality of

programmes

1. Actionable

knowledge and

evidence is available to

a wide array of

stakeholders,

specifically to decision

makers and citizen’s in

partner countries,

donors, HQ agencies

and general public

1.1 Participatory impact

evaluation with case study,

conducted with MDG F

Secretariat for each JP.

140,000 140,000

1.2 Baseline study for the Food

Security and Nutrition joint

programme

40,000

II. Governments

and donors

comply with

their

accountability

functions and

transparency

towards all

partners

2. Individual and

organizational

learning is developed

and/or improved

within MDG-F

Partners

(Government, civil

society, etc.)

2.1 Two Training workshop(s) on

M&E at national level (40

beneficiaries).

5,000 5,000 10,000

2.2 6 district-level Training

workshops (120 beneficiaries) on

M&E and Dev Info to assist in

putting together the District

profile.

8,000 16,000 24,000

2.3 Updates of the Timor-Leste

DevInfo with data of MDG

indicators and production of the

MDG statistical leaflets to

support the MDG report (in

cooperation with the MDG-F on

advocacy)

15,000

6,000

21,000

2.4 Regular technical meetings

between national, district-level

M&E groups and UN

5,000 5,000 5,000 15,000

2.5 Technical assistants to the

MDG-F M&E activities (Project

officer or consultants)

25,000 25,000 50,000

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Total budget (US$) 98,000 57,000 145,000 300,000