Accra, Sept. 29, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday launched the Policy Performance Management System which is expected to monitor and evaluate government policies and programmes.

A policy unit at the Presidency was established in 2009 for effective management of government policies, programmes and projects towards achievin= g the Government's 2008 manifesto to establish an administration that is ba= sed on transparency, accountability, rule of law and good governance. The unit is composed of two functional wings - Policy Evaluation and Oversight (PEOU) Division, headed by Dr Tony Aidoo; and the Manifesto Monitoring wing, headed by Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama.

Speaking at the launch Dr Aidoo, Head of PEOU, said both divisions of the unit were complementary, adding they both shared the principal responsibility of monitoring and evaluation of government policies, programmes and projects being implemented by the Ministries, Departments an= d Agencies (MDAs). He said the unit's responsibilities included creating periodic updat= es on a national databank on both the resource capacity of the MDAs relative t= o their mandatory functions and, on the policies, programmes and project entailed in the pursuit of those functions. In addition, the unit monitors the implementation of policies, programmes and projects of MDAs and evaluates results of the implementation as well as assessing the developmental impact on socio-economic welfare of the target populations.

Other activities include providing the Presidency with advisory opinions on the overall performance of the MDAs relative to the government= 's vision of building a Better Ghana.

Dr Aidoo described the System as ideologically-neutral and adaptable t= o any political regime. He said though the concept of policy performance management system was initiated in 1998 by former President Jerry John Rawlings, the New Patrioti= c Party did not abandon the idea when it came into power. Ms Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), described policy performance system as indispensable to achieving successful policy implementation and national development agenda. She called for proactive measures to ensure easy and convenient accessibility of information on government programmes and policies to the citizenry. Ms Sandju-Rojon called for greater data integration and the strengthening of policy implementation in multi-sector ways.