NaMEA uses digital resources and capacity building to enhance government project monitoring

FREETOWN – The National Monitoring and Evaluation Agency (NaMEA) is intensifying efforts to ensure that government projects and programs in Sierra Leone are implemented effectively and deliver the expected benefits to citizens. This was disclosed by Director General Dr James Edwin on Tuesday, 11th August, 2026.
Dr Edwin made his presentation during the Government of Sierra Leone’s Weekly Press Conference at the Miatta Civic Centre hosted by Mohamed Jaward Nyallay, Strategic Communications Adviser at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education. He briefed on NaMEA’s mission, achievements and plans as the country strives to enhance oversight of public investment.
“The agency was created to provide a dedicated, systematic approach to tracking government projects and whether they are being successfully implemented,” Dr Edwin explained, describing the institutional gap that NaMEA was created to address. He said Sierra Leone implements between 100 and 250 government projects per year depending on the year and that before the establishment of NaMEA, there was no single body with the capacity and responsibility to comprehensively monitor their implementation and performance.
NaMEA was set up as the National Monitoring and Evaluation Department in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, but later moved to the President’s Office. Its key functions include monitoring projects, programs and policies across the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), assessing their performance and making recommendations for improved implementation and results, Dr Edwin said. The Agency also looks at whether projects are getting the resources assigned to them, and how well those resources are being used.
Given the large and dispersed portfolio of government projects, NaMEA has prioritised institutional capacity development. “We cannot afford to monitor every project directly and continuously,” Dr Edwin explained. “Rather, NaMEA trains selected personnel within the MDAs to do the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and submit relevant data to the Agency. This approach, he said, improves the availability and quality of information for decision-making and improves the monitoring capacity of government institutions.
The use of a digital monitoring platform, the National Monitoring and Evaluation Information System, is an important element of NaMEA’s modernisation agenda. The system is intended to consolidate information on government projects on one platform and reduce time-consuming physical verification trips and make project information available to authorised users across the government. While Dr Edwin admits the system is still being rolled out slowly and operational issues such as bottlenecks in data entry and reporting are still to be ironed out, he says that efforts are ongoing to address those issues and increase the platform’s adoption.
In addition to routine project tracking, NaMEA conducts targeted special studies to identify systemic constraints that may affect government priorities. These studies examine financing, human resources and institutional capacity. It also examines the relationships between the various pillars of the National Development Plan. Dr Edwin highlighted that many projects falling under one development pillar could have important implications for other pillars and therefore require cross-sectoral analysis to generate more comprehensive policy recommendations.
The Agency also has a key role in monitoring the National Development Plan (2024-2030) and its implementation framework. The framework sets annual targets against which to measure the government’s progress. As the country approaches the halfway point of the seven-year plan, NaMEA is focused on reviewing the original plan, taking stock of progress in the early years of implementation and identifying areas that will require special attention before 2030, Dr Edwin said. NaMEA also assists in monitoring progress toward the SDGs and other national development priorities.
Monitoring and evaluation, provision of technical assessments and evidence-based reports to Cabinet and other government institutions as requested. “NaMEA may be asked to review a strategy or program before it is presented to Cabinet, so that we can provide the analysis and evidence needed to inform decision-making,” Dr Edwin said.
These functions constitute the core mandate of NaMEA: Project Monitoring, Institutional Capacity Development, Digital Monitoring, Special Studies, National Development Plan Evaluation and Technical Assistance to the Government. “The Agency’s work is geared toward enhancing accountability, evidence-based decision-making and effective delivery of government programs and projects across Sierra Leone,” said Dr Edwin.
“Of course, there are still some challenges, particularly on the quality of data and the full operationalisation of the digital system. But continuous capacity building within MDAs and iterative improvements to the National Monitoring and Evaluation Information System are critical to NaMEA’s strategy for better oversight and development outcomes,” he stated.