Monitoring and Evaluation of Programs/projects: Readiness Assessment of the Ministry of Health in Kenya to Implement Monitoring and Evaluation System

Abstract

Readiness assessment focuses on collecting baseline data on how well positioned a government is in regard to design, build and sustain monitoring and evaluation system. Building capacity in government is a long term process. The Government of Kenya developed Vision 2030 as a development. The Ministry of Health developed its Health Policy in line with Kenya Vision 2030 and the Kenya Constitution 2010. The existing Health Sector monitoring and evaluation framework does not stipulate how the Ministry of Health will monitor provisions of the National Financial Management Act, 2012. Neither does it provide on how the National Government will monitor conditional grants to the county Government. The country should develop a robust monitoring and evaluation plan that cover both technical and financial reporting between the national Government and County Governments and across the County governments. The objective of the study is to assess the readiness of Ministry of Health to implement monitoring and evaluation system. Data was collected from the Ministry of Health using questionnaires. Data was then analyzed and presented in graphs and pie charts. Based on the findings of this study, it was established that the Ministry of Health has high demands (incentives) for designing monitoring and evaluation systems to assess their programs. The study also demonstrated that the Ministry of Health has adequate roles and responsibilities necessary to assess its performance in line with monitoring and evaluation programs. Lastly, the study established that the Ministry of Health has necessary capacity to undertake monitoring and evaluation despite disagreements in factors such as adequate finances, resources, information Communication Technology, infrastructure, and innovations required to enhance smooth implementation of monitoring and evaluation. It was however recommended that the ministry should focus on enhancing their capacity, especially on financial support and development of infrastructure.