Why MIU retrained Gov’t Manifesto Focal Persons on New reporting system

By Richard Kintu

Manifesto implementation focal persons from the different government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have converged at the office of the president premises for retraining on the manifesto reporting tool which was launched by the presidency in March.

The training which lasted for two days (Wednesday and Thursday) at the office of the President’s conference hall and cabinet library respectively, drew several officials from the 28 MDAs which are directly tasked with implementing government programmes as lined up in the NRM Manifesto 2021-26.

During his opening remarks Wednesday, Willis Bashaasha, the Director Manifesto Implementation Unit (MIU) of the Office of the President revealed that the latest training was organized to retrain the manifesto focal persons following a low response rate on populating the tool following its launch last March.

According to Bashaasha, the reporting framework was designed ahead of the Manifesto Midterm Review which commenced in May.  Subsequently, the different government MDAs through their manifesto focal persons were supposed to populate it with information of the progress of government programmes within their respective dockets. This information would then be analysed and scored using the reporting tool’s analysis and scoring functions; which would provide quick data to the public and other stakeholders ahead of this year’s Manifesto Week slated to be held next month.

However, Bashaasha noted that a review done by the MIU technical team showed that only 6 out of the 28 targeted MDAs managed to upload the required data.

 “That response was very minimal, which made us decide to organize this training so that we can retrain our manifesto focal persons how to manipulate the tool. This training therefore was specifically designed to hold practical sessions with these officials; we are hopeful that after it the reporting will be done smoothly as per our intended objectives,” Bashaasha said. 

Bashaasha, though, expressed optimism that retraining the focal persons would bring them up to speed with the reporting tool, wjich will help all stakeholders to achgive the efficiency which was envisioned in initiating the reporting system.

Kakande Urges Officials On Reporting

While officially launch the 2-day training at the Presidency Cabinet Library Thursday, Hajji Yunus Kakande, the Secretary to the Presidency, urged the Manifesto implementation focal persons to amplify reporting on government programmes as a way of strengthening public trust in the ruling government.

Highlighting the importance of monitoring government programmes, Kakande thanked the MIU for innovating tools such as the Manifesto Reporting Framework, among others, which continue to enforce and enhance efficiency in this service delivery tracking.

“The manifesto is the (social) contract which the President signed with Ugandans while campaigning and at swearing-in. Consequently, the Cabinet passed and adopted it as one of the tools for policy direction and service delivery implementation. So, coming up with effective ways of monitoring its implementation is a very big milestone,” Kakande said.

He thus urged the focal persons to diligently use the tool whose major objective is to strengthen government’s monitoring and evaluation capacity through; enforcing transparency and accuracy of reporting and evaluating progress made against manifesto objectives and targets; harmonizing data from the various existing sources across government and providing timely information for evidence-based policy decision making.

Why MIU Developed Manifesto Reporting Tool

Mr. Willis Bashaasha, the Director MIU revealed that the Manifesto Reporting Framework tool was launched on March 5, 2024 by the Prime Minister and was innovated by the MIU to enforce harmony and synchronized reporting on government commitments which are lined up in the 2021-26 NRM Manifesto.

To integrate this reporting tool within the existing government reporting frameworks, MIU collaborated with the National Planning Authority (NPA), Office of the Prime Minister, National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) to avoid duplication of already existing government reporting systems.  

Bashaasha expressed optimism that the tool, which was developed by HISP Uganda, will help solve some of the challenges in reporting, which in turn will grow the public’s trust in the government through accurately showcasing the tangible achievements made toward the country’s growth and development goals.

 “It is our core mandate (as MIU) is to monitor the implementation of the manifesto and to disseminate its progress to the public. However, over the course of this mandate we have realized that there have been some challenges in the reporting such as late reporting, some inaccuracies and lack of cohesion and uniformity in reported data. This is why we sought experts in collaboration with NITA-U to help us develop this reporting framework (tool) with a view of mitigating all these challenges,” Bashaasha said.

About the Manifesto Reporting System  

The manifesto reporting system is an integrated application dashboard whose primary role is to track, display and visualize performance of priority outputs, and outcome indicators provided for in the NRM Manifesto 2021 – 2025.

It runs from within the NDPIII M&E Web-based system to utilize quarterly and annual performance data reported against targets by MDAs on the NDPIII programmes (20) at both central and local government level. 

It is comprised of components including; Overall Performance by theme; Progress on Presidential directives; Overall Programme Performance, and an entry screen for scoring commitments based on entities.

To access the Manifesto dashboard, you need to login to the Integrated NDPIII web-based M&E system. Access credentials are provided by the OPM and NPA system administrators

Bashaasha noted that while the tool was aligned with the NDP III as well as the 5 thematic areas of the NRM Manifesto 2021-26, it is a living tool which can/will be accordingly adjusted to align with relevant development plans as rolled out by government from time to time.