The National Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents was launched in 2004. Today, as a follow-up, the National Committee for Families and Children launched what's known as the monitoring and evaluation framework database. Program coordinator for the NCFC is John Flowers. He told us that it may sound technical, but the database is all about keeping track of the needs of children.
John Flowers, Program Coordinator - NCFC
"This database really is a tool Alfonso. It is a tool that will help us to make monitoring and evaluation of this national plan much easier. Like any profession, carpenters can't work without their tools. In this day and age, in the information age, I think without the correct tools it puts extra stress on the already strained human resources within the various ministries and so in fact any relevant tools that we can add to make the data compilation and analysis and dissemination easier we have tried to put in place.
And so the 'NPA Info' is a database that will seek to facilitate easy analysis, easy dissemination of data so that while monitoring and evaluation should happen even if you do not have computer software and applications, if you do, it makes your life much easier so that when you are called upon to provide reports and to provide status on the situation with children you can readily go into your database, do quick analysis, and share those results for decision making."
Elizabeth Talbert,
"We have decided, with this new plan, this plan which starts from 2004 to 2015 to ensure that it achieves what it sets out to do so there needs to be some monitoring and evaluation. The plan has three components. One of the components is just to set out what it is we need to collect and then there is another section that says, 'okay you are collecting the information, what is it saying. Has there been any change in any one of these indicators? Has infant mortality gone up or has it come down? Has the transition to secondary school improved?' So it will be measuring all those changes that impact children.
If you don't measure, many times people say, 'oh poverty is going up or children are going on the street,' but there's no scientific data, no informed decision on, 'yes we should do this or do that,' because there is no information. So by doing the monitoring and evaluation this will provide the useful information to say that changes are being made, may it be negative or positive change."
The database will be managed and monitored by the Central Statistical Office which will have periodic reports on data entered into the system.
