Assessing Country Readiness for Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation Systems

Countries across the globe are facing pressures to reform their public sectors. An effective, efficient public sector is vital to sustainable development, economic growth, and citizens' well-being. Similarly, assessing government performance is crucial in determining a country's progress toward its development goals, whether defined by the Millennium Development Goals, a Policy Reduction Strategy Paper, a Country Assistance Strategy, or another policy statement. It is also important in analyzing a government's accountability to its citizens, by providing evidence on promised government performance. Focusing on performance can also be an effective public sector management tool, informing resource allocation decisions and monitoring of whether public initiatives are achieving expected results. As a result governments at all levels are under pressure to move beyond tracking inputs-and toward measuring results.