What to Expect from My Blog – Globally, the subjects you will be reading on this blog vary in degrees – this is due to the all-encompassing and multidisciplinary nature of the subject – Managing for Development Results (MfDR).
It is recalled that the term “Managing for Development Results” was coined out of the process of improving development effectiveness in countries. It gained prominence at the aftermath of the adoption of the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in year 2000.
The MDGs and its eight goals, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDA, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and improve on the global partnership for development, was adopted to help governments improve the conditions of their citizens by eradicating poverty and improving their approaches to environmental management, health delivery, gender parity etc. by year 2015.
All of these goals have multiple components and tally with other international agreed development goals such as on environmental management, litigation and sustainable development policies, gender equality, combat against HIV/AIDS, to mention a few.
The MDGs is therefore a development agenda that serves as a meeting point for many earlier and present development programmes that are being administered under the auspices of the United Nations.
The last goal, improving the global partnership for development, actually called on donor countries to continue to assist development countries financially in poverty eradication and other aspects of development. It is from here that the issue of aid effectiveness, where the productivity of financing development was at the centre of discussions. This brought about strategies that stressed on improving government apparatus and institutions for improved service delivery.
The issue of placing results over process and institutions over people was at the centre of action for aid effectiveness. While discussions on aid effectiveness led to the recognition of ownerships in development management in, developing countries, where it is found to be appropriate for development actions to be tailored according to needs and local realities, the notion of one-size-does-not-fit-all has engendered actions of development agencies towards decentralization and overhauling of development delivery process.
Results-Based Management is an approach to public sector management with a focus on performance and results has been introduced by development agencies and more recently by the United Nations Organization. IT is supposed to help government delivering the basic service to its citizens by imploring on process and capacity building that bring value to public expenditure and should apply to all areas, from vision to planning, policy making and the public administration system.
Be it about environmental protection, public health management, food and agriculture, infrastructural development and the link between leadership and execution of programmes at the grassroots level, RBM as a pillar of managing for development results apply and it is necessary that all stakeholders are aware of its principles.
My blogs will therefore carry this message, and consequently the writings will lean on well researched arguments, opinions on relevant international development public policy issues to shed lights on best practice, educate and inform on results-based approach to different areas of international development and public policy.
