India News | Delhi Govt's Strengthening Monitoring, Evaluation Unit of Planning Dept by Hiring Experts: Official

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) The Delhi government is strengthening the monitoring and evaluation unit of its Planning department by hiring data scientists and analysts with an aim to promote result-oriented governance, a senior official said on Thursday.

The government intends to take monitoring and evaluation of its programmes, policies and schemes to the next level with an emphasis on data and its usage, said Jasmine Shah, vice chairman of Delhi's Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC).

"The Arvind Kejriwal government believes in science and realises how data could be a significant intervention in making its programmes and polices more result-oriented and serve the needs of people in the best possible way," Shah said.

In an endeavour to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation unit, the Planning department is hiring experts and professionals, including data scientists and analysts, he said.

"Excellent opportunity to work in the Delhi govt under Planning dept led by Deputy CM @msisodia and use data & evidence to impact the lives of millions. Vacancies for 17 posts ranging from Director to Interns - apply by 20th July," Shah tweeted.

The monitoring and evaluation unit plays multiple roles, one of them being giving technical lead for Delhi government's initiative 'Outcome Budget' that is presented every year in the Assembly along with the annual budget.

"Outcome budget is a priority of Kejriwal government where data plays crucial role. It is significant as it not only serves as a report card of the performance by different departments but also an important monitoring tool to instil better target achievement," said the DDC vice chairman.

He said the hiring of experts is likely to be completed by August and the strengthened form of the monitoring and evaluation unit will start working from September.

The inclusion of experts will also give a fillip to another important aspect of the unit which is carrying different types of surveys to evaluate the impact of government programmes and schemes, he said.

The surveys conducted by the monitoring and evaluation unit ensure that their findings are effectively integrated with the policies of the government. It also undertakes data analytics of large official data-sets to generate insights for policy making, he added.

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