Child Poverty in Mozambique. A Situation and Trend ... - Unicef

(vi) Analysis of monitoring and review mechanisms
Existing monitoring and evaluation systems, however, remain weak, fragmented
and strongly donor driven. There are thus concerns regarding the quality of much of
the annual data produced in key sectors (Holms and Martínez, 2005), its timing and
the proliferation of conflicting methodologies, indicators and targets. Relatedly, the
direct conditioning of GBS disbursements on performance relative to PAF indicators
has created perverse incentives for the M&E system, with sectors seeking to set
conservative, easily attainable targets.
A case study of HIV/AIDS targets in the health sector shows how the production
of conflicting targets and associated incentive problems can directly impact on
programming for children. The Ministry of Health has a programme to deliver
prophylaxis to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and monitoring of
this activity has been selected for inclusion in the PAF matrix. 24 The second National
Strategic Plan to Fight HIV/AIDS for the period 2005 to 2009 (PEN II) sets out a
target of PMTCT coverage of 90 per cent by the year 2009, building on the target
established by the Ministry of Health in its HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan of 60 per cent
by the year 2008. Following a period of reflection within the health sector in early
2006, the PARPA II target approved by the Council of Ministers aimed to reach a
much lower target of 22 per cent by the year 2009. This reduction is partly due to the
difficulties encountered in rolling out PMTCT prophylaxis in the health system. 25 It is
also due, at least in part, to a generally held view in Government that it is better to
exceed a conservative target than narrowly fail to meet an ambitious one.
It is hoped that the distinction between the new Strategic Matrix and the smaller list
of forty PAF indicators will reduce the downward pressure on the targets associated
with the non-PAF indicators. However, it is not sufficient to have one-off efforts
to promote M&E activities within the sectors at the time of PARPA/Five Year Plan
drafting. The key to the sustainability of the new M&E Strategy will be a coherent
and thoroughgoing effort to build capacity to manage a Government-wide M&E
system (not simply focusing on “priority” areas) within the Ministry of Planning and
Development, integrating the existing sectoral instruments into a coherent whole and
building capacity where monitoring and evaluation is particularly weak.
The quality of financial monitoring could be markedly strengthened by the integration
of public expenditure reviews (PERs) into the planning, budgeting and monitoring
process. At present the Government rarely undertakes such reviews (PERs in
education and health were undertaken by consultancy teams and published in 2003
and 2004 respectively) and the linkages between those that do exist and the budget
process are weak. Integration of PERs should help to ensure that budget allocations
are tailored to maximise their impact on PARPA objectives and provide lessons and
recommendations arising from experience in implementing programmes and policies.
B. External development assistance
(i) The new “aid architecture”
As the deprivations-based approach to poverty measurement emphasises, spending
in areas such as health, education and water is essential to reducing childhood
poverty. These are areas where external assistance is heavily concentrated. Since
24 The indicator addresses the “number of HIV+ pregnant women and neonates receiving PMTCT prophylaxis.” Note that this indicator has
added importance within the PAF. For example, it is one of the European Commission’s 11 core output conditionality indicators and determines
€1.25 million of the “variable tranche” of its GBS disbursements (European Commission, 2006).
25 In 2005, the PAF reported that 7,297 pregnant women and neonates received treatment in 2005 against the targeted 15,000.
64 CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS