The National Monitoring and Evaluation Agency (NaMEA), with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), on 14th May 2026 ended a two-day workshop for the validation of ten (10) Public Investment Projects Monitoring Reports at the Freetown City Council Hall on Wallace Johnson Street in Freetown.
The ten (10) projects are being implemented by various Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Participants included representatives from the Ministries of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Agriculture, Works, Health, Energy, Development and Economic Planning, National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), National Youth Commission and the National Telecommunications Agency.
The monitoring and evaluation exercises were done between November and December of 2025.
Officially opening the workshop, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED), Madam Kenyah Barlay revealed that MoPED gave birth to NaMEA and would ensure that it succeeds, affirmed that NaMEA would strengthen the culture of evidence-base, that the process is a demonstration of Government’s accountability and transparency efforts that must translate to improvement in the lives of the people reiterating that every Leone must be valuable and accounted for.
She continued that the event is timely and critical for greater impact with less funds noting that citizens want evidence for which NaMEA is key in all of those, that monitoring and evaluation provides lessons for future development partners and ensures that stakeholders are informed by the facts especially now due to donor fatigue underlining that monitoring and evaluation and the validation process are very important and is not the end result but a learning process.
According to the Minister, the report should inform action, value partnership, recommendations implemented and stakeholders taking ownership of the process to maximize development impact for the people of Sierra Leone who should benefit 80% of what is due them.
Earlier in his welcome statement, the Deputy Director General of NaMEA, Paul Allen disclosed that in November/December of 2025 they monitored and surveyed ten (10) projects in 16 Districts nationwide, the report which participants would validate after which it would be disseminated to stakeholders noting that some projects are successful while others are having challenges and underscored that such a process would improve the implementation of projects in the future and commended UNDP for the support.
He further underscored that NaMEA would ensure that the reports produced are acted upon for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans and informed that the ten projects monitored and analyzed are all linked to Government’s five big game changers.
Dr. Susan Roberts, Deputy Commissioner of NaCSA underlined that NaMEA is lending credence to their work on social security and youth employment among others been implemented for the past ten years and commended the Islamic Development Bank and other donors for their support to the most vulnerable people in the country.
She also informed that they use the data provided by Statistics Sierra Leone to determine beneficiaries highlighting that the people are very appreciative of the projects supporting women, the aged, youths and other vulnerable groups.
Dr. Susan Roberts also disclosed that the German Development Bank is funding the construction of infrastructures along the border districts, the cattle/rice/cacao value chains respectively as well as in riverine areas in Kambia District and construction of roads and culverts in other parts of the country, provision of rice stores, rice milling machines and water wells.
The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Sierra Leone, Kevin Petrini pointed out that the exercise is to improve efficiency and value for money, scale-up lessons learnt to be implemented in other projects and program as well as plan and deliver better noting that fiscal stability and debt repayment should be well-designed, managed and executed.
According to the UNDP Resident Representative, evidence empowers action and guaranteed that the partnership with NaMEA is continuous for Sierra Leone’s development goals.
Saidu Amara, Director, Capacity Building Development, chaired the 2-day workshop while other stakeholders also made similar statements.
Highlights of the event were the question/answer/comment session in which it was disclosed that there are over 200 ongoing projects in the country that are being monitored by NaMEA while the vote of thanks was rendered by Maliatu Bah of NaMEA.
