By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Oct. 20, GNA – Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), has called on stakeholders within the evaluation community to deepen the use of evaluation evidence in national development planning to enhance policy implementation, improve resource allocation and strengthen accountability.
She said evaluation should move beyond data collection and report writing to becoming a critical tool for decision-making and achieving meaningful development outcomes.
Speaking at the 2026 Ghana Evaluation Week (GEW) Conference at the University of Ghana, Legon, on the theme: “Strengthening Evidence Use for Inclusive Development: Bridging Policy, Practice and Innovation.”
Dr Amoah stressed the need for evidence to guide policy and programme implementation.
“Evaluation must help us identify what works, understand implementation gaps and determine what needs to change to deliver better outcomes for all,” she said.
Dr Amoah noted that findings from the evaluation of the 2022-2025 Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework had informed four key strategic shifts in the development of the 2026-2029 framework.
These, she said, included strengthening institutional and human capital, advancing regulatory and legal reforms, ensuring predictable financing, and promoting data-driven coordination.
The Director-General highlighted a number of initiatives undertaken by the NDPC to strengthen evidence generation and utilisation in policy development.
She said the Commission, with support from the German Development Agency (GIZ) through its Participation, Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIReD) programme, had completed mirror reports on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Free Senior High School and the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
Dr Amoah urged development partners, academia, civil society organisations and members of the evaluation community to intensify collaboration to ensure that evidence translated into practical solutions that improved the lives of citizens.
“Let us sustain the collaboration and move beyond generating evidence to using it; beyond documenting progress to addressing implementation gaps; and beyond making commitments to achieving measurable improvements in the lives of our people,” she said.
Ms Dede Bedu-Addo, President and Coordinator of the Ghana Monitoring and Evaluation Forum (GMEF), underscored the need to strengthen the organisation’s capacity to sustain its activities and determine its own priorities.
She said growing interest from individuals beyond Ghana’s borders presented an opportunity to expand the organisation’s reach and foster stronger partnerships within the evaluation sector.
The 2026 Ghana Evaluation Week, being held from October 19 to 21 at the ISSER Conference Room (Auditorium) of the University of Ghana, Legon, has brought together government officials, development partners, researchers and evaluation practitioners.
The conference is providing a platform for participants to explore practical strategies for strengthening the use of evidence in development planning, policymaking and implementation.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Email address: [email protected]