Monitoring and Evaluation in Support of Management in the Agricultural and Rural Development Sector (MESMARD)

Despite considerable gains in economic growth and poverty reduction in the last twenty years, poor people who are heavily dependent on agriculture continue to exist in Vietnam. To tackle poverty, the government of Vietnam has developed a five year national socio-economic development plan (SEDP) for 2011-2015 which is aimed at fostering qualitative growth and sustainable development, increasing competitiveness, improving livelihoods, etc. As agriculture and rural development (ARD) plays a very important role in Vietnam’s economy, making up 30% of the total export turnover and 21% of the GDP, related policies and plans in the coming years are essential in their contribution to the government’s anticipated achievements in the 2011-2015 SEDP. MESMARD is designed to support MARD in the process of moving from a centrally planned, inputoriented planning process towards a de-centralised, outcome- and impact-oriented development approach. It helps to establish a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system that can effectively keep account of and assess the outcomes of economic growth and the impact of poverty reduction policies and programs of MARD. The development of a suitable M&E system has therefore become an indispensable foundation for SEDP implementation, as well as for better policy formulation and development in general.

The overall goal of MESMARD is to contribute to greater productivity and improve rural poverty reduction through better use of public funds within the ARD sectors. It will do this by applying and augmenting results-based planning, monitoring, evaluation and policy-making systems within MARD and selected provincial Departments of ARD (DARD).

MESMARD targets three general departments plus eight technical departments within MARD, in particular the Department of Planning as the direct implementing agency and two pilot provincial DARDs of Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc.

Principaux résultats attendus:  

MESMARD expects to improve the two ensuing five-year plans (2011-2015 and 2016-2020) and the annual plans within the MARD sector, sub sector (11 Departments under MARD) and two provincial DARDs based on templates provided by MESMARD through training and coaching. M&E systems and databases of these agencies will also be developed and operated that meet the M&E requirements of the five-year 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 sector and sub-sector plans. To maintain successful results within the whole process, results-based management regulation (in planning and M&E) will be developed and issued by MARD, and applied in the whole sector. A M&E group will be set up within the Department of Planning for sustaining results based management at MARD.

SDC works to strengthen the capacity of MARD and selected provincial DARD cadres in results-based approaches in planning, M&E, and policy-making. Through learning by doing approach, the project supports MARD, eleven technical departments and the two provincial DARDs of Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc in applying a results-based approach to sector and sub-sector plan formulation and implementation (linked to M&E) for its annual and five-year plans (2011-2015 and 2016-2020). A results-based M&E system of these plans will be established, consolidated and progressively adopted throughout MARD and provincial DARDs for better policy formulation.

Phase 2 01.03.2010 - 31.12.2015   (Completed)