Director Gilbert Lumantao of the Policy Research Office (seated, fourth from left) with the Metro Manila Development Authority flood management project participants.

Makati City — The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), through its Center for Governance, conducted an advanced monitoring and evaluation training for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on July 2-5, 2024. The 36 participants were MMDA staff involved in Phase 1 of the inter-agency Metro Manila Flood Management Project (MMFMP), funded by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The training featured resource persons such as Chief Economic Development Specialist Jesse David (National Economic and Development Authority); Dr. Jalton Taguibao and Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao of the University of the Philippines-Diliman Department of Political Science; Country Coordinator Maxine Tanya Hamada (Advocacy Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids); and DAP Director Gilbert Lumantao.

Participants work on their final output, the terms of reference, drawing from the theory of change and data analysis plan created in earlier workshops.

MMFMP Project Manager Rene Jay Dela Calzada opened the training, highlighting the critical role of monitoring and evaluation skills in effective project assessment. Participants Jea Sata-Umengan from the Office of the Assistant General Manager for Operations and Alfred Panugao from the Physical Planning and Spatial Development Service–Land Resource Management and Zoning Division expressed their appreciation for the training, noting its applicability to their ongoing and future projects.

Building on the basic monitoring and evaluation training held in 2022, this year’s workshop included seven lecture sessions and three workshops. The training covered results-oriented public sector management in the Philippines, constructing a theory of change, quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analysis, and managing an evaluation study. The course concluded with participants presenting their outputs to a panel that included Director Lumantao and DAP-Project Officer Ma. Czarina Krisha De Leon.

Nivea Urdas