By Tejiri Omoefe
A Civil Society Organisation, Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), Delta State Chapter, has organised a 2-day workshop for its members and other relevant stakeholders on the use of Performance Management Systems (PMS) and the National Nutritional Budget Tracking System (NNBS).
The workshop, which was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Planning, was aimed at training the participants on the need to acquaint themselves with global best practices in the gathering, tracking and management of nutrition data of every Ministry, Department and Agencies involved in nutrition intervention programmes, for proper planning, decision-making and research purposes.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Austin Itanwansa, hailed the organisers of the workshop, stating that knowledge accrued from the workshop would not just help to gather information and data that would aid planning and carrying out nutrition intervention-based programmes, but also help to centralise all nutrition interventions carried out in the state.
Mr Itanwansa, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), Dr Jomo Ikpen, therefore called on participants to pay rapt attention before declaring the workshop open.
The State Coordinator of CS-SUNN, Mr John Ogbeide, said the exercise was prompted by gaps and inconsistencies in the nutrition data and figures presented on the national dashboard, which did not adequately reflect interventions being implemented in Delta State.
He expressed appreciation to the Ministry of Economic Planning for its collaboration and support towards making the workshop possible.
The training featured practical sessions on navigating the PMS and NNBTS dashboards, applying filters to analyse relevant data, creating system accounts and uploading quarterly reports from MDAs. Participants were also equipped with the knowledge to generate state-specific nutrition budget information for advocacy and accountability purposes.
A major highlight was a live demonstration of the two platforms by the Monitoring and Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Officer at the CS-SUNN national headquarters, Mr Jibrin Ogbaji.
The workshop also featured the presentation of action plans and commitments by participants, as well as the development of a state-level implementation plan for the PMS and NNBTS.
Participants included representatives of the Ministries of Economic Planning, Agriculture and Secondary Education, the National Population Commission and several non-governmental organisations.
