The Government of Montserrat’s first National Performance Report card shows that it is below several key indicators and surpassing targets in others.
The Government of Montserrat’s National Performance Report for the period 2017-2018 has been published online for the first time since the PDM Government took office. The document, which was produced by the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit within the Office of the Premier, provides a report of the Government of Montserrat’s performance in line with the Sustainable Development Plan (SDP) (2008-2020).
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and head of the Unit, Cynthia Dyett said the production of a national performance report is a critical process to ensure accountability by Government of Montserrat’s ministries and departments. She further noted that the document, as a written record, provides an opportunity to demonstrate value for money, which is essential as the Government of Montserrat receives financial aid from the British Government through the Department for International Development (DFID).
The document outlines the Government’s performance based on 80 key indicators and the SDP goals 1 to 5, namely, Prudent Economic Management; Enhanced Human Development; Sustainable Environmental Management and Appropriate Disaster Management Practices; Good Governance and Increased population.
“Accessing performance information has been challenging. The number of indicators that were initially proposed were significantly reduced due to limited and the reliability of the information. The assumption however is that progress in reporting against indicators will improve for the next financial year. This National Performance Framework must be considered a work in progress rather that a final document,” said a statement in the introduction of the report.
On Food Security, Montserrat achieved 65% of its target for landed fish and almost 70% on the production of broiler meat.
On SDP Goal 3 on the environment, the Ministry of Agriculture has performed commendably on protecting the island’s biodiversity and forestry areas.
On effective disaster mitigation, response and recovery at the National and Community levels and adaptation to climate change, several entities with responsibility have performed below targets, according to the figures released in the report.
SDP Goal 4 of Governance shows the Office of the Auditor General delivering and surpassing on its targets for statements on public accounts and conducting compliance audits.
On SDP Goal 5 -Increased Population – The Office of the Premier was to Develop a Migration Policy to protect Montserrat’s borders, attract necessary skills and support population growth. However, this report has not been completed.
The report later concludes that “Compliance in reporting against the indicators is important and GoM Ministries and Departments should make a more concerted effort into ensuring that there are systems in place for the collection and recording of performance information for reporting on a regular basis.”
Click here to read and download the full report – National-Performance-Report-2017-18
The performance report is expected to be produced and published annually.
