EAJ holds three-day workshop for Somaliland MOJ’s Department of Policy, Planning and Statistics

By Josiah Imbayi Mukoya

“Often, we don’t get this opportunity and resources of having a more in-depth conversation around departmental roles within the ministry. This is a good opportunity to clearly understand our priorities, and the need to fast track completion of the strategic plan to allow effective monitoring and evaluation of our service delivery.” –Abdirahman Sheikh, Director General, Ministry of Justice, Somaliland

The EAJ program held a three-day M&E System consultative workshop for Somaliland Ministry of Justice’s Department of Policy, Planning and Statistics from November 18th - 20th. The workshop, held in Hargeisa, brought together 22 (16 males, 6 females) key stakeholders within the ministry including departmental heads and coordinators from the five regions of Somaliland.

Serving as a follow-on to EAJ’s Government Performance Index (GPI) assessment conducted for the Ministry of Justice in Q2 of FY2019, the workshop identified three specific objectives: i) to facilitate discussions and reflections around specific M&E capacity gaps and the needs of the Policy Planning and Statistics department ii) to draw up a capacity development plan for the MOJ’s Policy Planning and Statistics department addressing effective monitoring and evaluation of the strategic activities planned and iii) to discuss the next steps of EAJ’s continued support to the Policy Planning and Statistics department.

Outcomes of the workshop included the need for the ministry to fast track the review and completion of the strategic plan by the end of the first quarter in FY2020. This action item was discovered as necessary for developing effective strategies to strengthening the M&E technical capacity of the MOJ after a SWOT analysis of the Policy Planning and Statistics department (see below for SWOT Analysis table).

The finalized strategic plan must address weak M&E areas such as developing staff capacity for M&E, drafting explicit M&E policies, and implementing M&E tools and knowledge management systems.

EAJ plans to implement the M&E support plan in quarter two of FY2020 by leveraging immediate strategic planning opportunities. The M&E system codesigned by EAJ and the Ministry of Justice will be collaborative, systematically sequenced, and include key support activities throughout the year to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery within the department of Policy Planning and Statistics.