From Estimation to Evaluation | Daily News

From Estimation to Evaluation

Present development projects in Sri Lanka begin from an estimation, which looks at a project from a financial perspective. However, the global development commences with a systematic and impartial evaluation. In the fields of politics, administration, and social studies across the globe evaluation gets vital importance. I believe Sri Lanka should be heading in this direction. As Parliamentarians are joining the evaluation community of Sri Lanka, and we are committed to bringing evaluation as a policy to Sri Lankan economics to promote good governance and accountability.

The process of evaluation analyses a project providing credible information, improving transparency and accountability. This will give all involved persons a full picture of a project's risks and rewards helping them make calculated decisions throughout the process of the project.

Through the Sri Lanka Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation (SLPFE), we are working hard to standardise the use of evaluation processes throughout development activities in Sri Lankan economy. There are about 16 members of Parliament backbenchers, we came forward voluntarily to bring the policy on evaluation. Starting from the district level, we have trained government officials in twelve districts who are in decision making positions, and hope to extend further in the future.

We also propose an all-party member parliamentary committee on evaluation to participate in evaluating the development proposals before projects initiate rather than its completion as a postmortem.

We hope the EvalColombo2018, global event for Parliamentarians will bring more ideas on evaluation to Sri Lanka. We will move forward from the estimation to evaluation, and it is going to be a revolution for sure.

The writer is Member of Parliament of Nuwara Eliya District and Executive Member of Sri Lanka Parliamentarians Forum for Evaluation (SLPFE). 


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