The government officially launched the 2025 Inter-departmental Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Program in Mt Hagen city, Western Highlands province.
Spearheaded by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring (DNPM), and supported by the Departments of Treasury, Finance, Provincial and Local Government Affairs and DIRD, the M&E exercise reaffirms the Government’s commitment to enhance accountability in public spending for key capital Investments over the medium term.
On behalf of the Minister and Secretary, the DNPM Deputy Secretary for Programming and Monitoring Wing, Mr. Roger Kara, officiated the event alongside senior government officials, and representatives from participating agencies.
Western Highlands Provincial Administrator, Mr. Joseph Mangil and Mt Hagen City Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Leo Noki, and representatives of national agencies on the ground were also present at the event.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kara said the event marked the beginning of a nationwide, government-led coordination effort to track the impact of development funds allocated through the Public Investment Program (PIP) between 2022 and 2024.
“Over the last three years, through the government’s national budget, over K34 billion was expensed to agencies and provinces to fund critical investments. This funding was inclusive of PNG Government funding as well as development financing. With issues of capacity faced by many agencies, monitoring and reporting has been problematic, thereby affecting the national government’s ability to properly account and report on these funds. This particular M&E Program is intended to cater for some aspects of these accountability and reporting,” Mr. Kara explained.
The participation of the Departments Treasury, Finance, Provincial and Local Government Affairs (DPLGA), and Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) emphasizes the whole of Government approach to CIB management, performance assessment and reporting. As this is a national initiative the Interdepartmental M&E program will cover all 22 Provinces in the country.
Mrs. Napa Hurim, Deputy Secretary, Budget & Financial Management Wing, Department of Treasury urged the participating agencies and program managers to provide true information on the selected projects that will be visited and assessed.
“We are not auditors; we are not here to find wrong and accuse you or bring a bad report back. We are a team, and we are here to emphasize the message of unity. We are not here to stop any project or activity of Government. We are here to see what is happening on the ground on funds disbursed from the national budget over the last three years and report back to Government. We want everyone to be open and honest in responses and supporting our teams in the provinces,” Mrs. Hurim said.
Western Highlands Provincial Administrator, Mr. Joseph Mangil, welcomed the gathering and acknowledged the significance of this M&E exercise adding that planning, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and reporting were key tools for the development aspirations of any government.
He said in his 25 years of public service, he has not seen any program of this magnitude and thus welcomed the team and hoped this exercise would bring a fruitful outcome.
“This is the way forward, bringing all the responsible national agencies together and working together because 50 years on and our people are still suffering,”Mr. Mangil said.
Mr. Kara said the program reaffirms the Marape-Rosso Government’s commitment to evidence-based development.
“This launch marks not just a program start, but a renewed dedication to measuring and improving our development efforts across the country,” Mr. Kara said.
Mt. Hagen was chosen as the launch site because of its centrality in the fast-developing Highlands region, where a large volume of national infrastructure and service delivery projects are being implemented.