Annual inspection: Performance of regional bureaus to be reviewed

Body’s chief directs inspection, monitoring team to check progress of each bureau

Senior members of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Inspection and Monitoring Team have been directed by the body’s chief to review the progress of each regional bureau during the ongoing annual inspection.

Meanwhile, all regional bureaus of NAB have been directed by the body’s chairman to implement the monitoring and evaluation system (MES).

The directions came as the body’s chief, Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, chaired a meeting to review progress made on the MES.

During the meeting, the advisor to chairman on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) gave a detailed presentation on progress made by the MES in the accountability body and its efficacy in future.

The advisor said that following directions from Chaudhry, NAB had developed the MES which helps maintain data at each stage of investigation including complaint entry, complaint verification, inquiry, investigation and prosecution stage.

Moreover, the MES records the proceedings of regional board meetings and executive board meetings including case brief, decisions made. The system also has the ability to analyse data in qualitative and quantitative terms with due warning and alarms system for violators.

The advisor informed the meeting that the MES was a web-based application which was user-friendly and interactive, developed to enhance the operational, monitoring and evaluation capabilities of NAB.

The NAB chief said that the purpose of the system was to track implementation and outputs systematically and measure the effectiveness of performance which help in enhancing the operational, monitoring and evaluation capabilities of NAB.

Chaudhry said that MES now forms the basis of the modification of interventions of the bureau by assessing the quality of activities being conducted. He added that the MES helps with identifying the most valuable and efficient use of resources and is critical to developing objective conclusions.

Further, he said that the MES provides the necessary data to guide strategic planning and helps improve the performance of current and future management of outputs, outcomes and impact.

Elaborating on MES’ importance, Chaudhry said that the management tool would track progress and facilitate in decision making as well as establishing links between the past, present and future actions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2017.