Editorial:M&E to Deliver Accountability

Monitoring & Evaluation have always been part of governance. The least paid-attention-to part, but a part nevertheless. Now, there appears to be a move underway to elevate this segment of administration to a hierarchy it deserves – right at the top. Addressing a coordination meeting with Heads of Government Departments on Monday, the Chief Minister called on government officers to be “proactive, responsive and accountable” in their service to the people of the state. He also called upon the HoDs to oversee diligent and judicious implementation the government programmes. This is not the first time that the CM is making such an appeal, and he has made frequent reiterations of this advice in the past. When he calls on public servants to be “proactive, responsive and accountable”, he is not asking to deliver something special, he is only underlining an attitude which should have always been the basic code of conduct for them. And yet, this basic quality needs to be held up as a special virtue to inspire better work ethics. There is no denying the fact the work culture in government offices in Sikkim is at least three decades out of sync with what the times and the people require. It is not rare for even the well-meaning officers to talk down when interacting with lay people, and it is obviously this attitude that the CM is calling for a change in when he wants his officers to become more responsive. It is after all, only after the executive becomes truly responsive that they will deliver schemes with a people-first approach rather than the frequent complaints one hears and experiences in department offices whenever clear directions are handed out on how they should work and what they should do. In this light, no amount of reiteration can be too much when it comes to reminding the bureaucracy on attitudes they should wear to work. The latest appeal by the CM is thus welcome. Given the pessimistic times we live in, however, maybe one is speaking too soon here, but from what is available on paper, it appears that M&E is being prioritised. High time! Too many doles, projects, funding and sponsorship have been invested in Sikkim without a scientific appraisal of how far the buck travels here. Frankly speaking, monitoring & evaluation is a simple science. Funds get allocated, the release of payment requires numerous NOCs and clearance certificates to endorse that the work was done – that’s monitoring. People look at roads carpeted last winter disintegrate with the first showers – that’s evaluation. So, when a government officer is tasked with monitoring and evaluation, it is expected that s/he brings something more to the table than the thumb-rule that has the people monitoring and evaluating already. That is where proper training could help. What is it that ‘training’ can deliver that one does not already know? Definitely the science to be able to monitor and evaluate so well that when things go wrong, the figures align themselves in a way that a shortlist of who is to be blamed how much is ready even before the Vigilance Police wakes up. Monitoring and evaluation exercises can be carried out endlessly without delivering any results unless the most important follow-up to the M&E process is codified – accountability. And one does not speak of fixing criminal culpability and corruption charges on failed projects here. The M&E exercise should lead to pulling up lethargic officials who contributed to failed projects, those who compromise the impact of good initiatives with their poor delivery. These can be departmental exercises leading to a red inked ACR or a compulsory admission to “re-learning school”... anything so long as action is seen to be taken after the accountability has been correctly fixed. That would be true monitoring and evaluation because it would be delivering accountability.