The circuit
As the race for 2027 picks up pace, a new dynamic to spice up not only the race itself but the nature of the outcome of the elections should be expected. This is in the form of a think tank, which, beside the traditional activities of policy research and advocacy, will also track the performance […]
As the race for 2027 picks up pace, a new dynamic to spice up not only the race itself but the nature of the outcome of the elections should be expected.
This is in the form of a think tank, which, beside the traditional activities of policy research and advocacy, will also track the performance of both political and administrative officeholders. This think tank, to be known as “The Circuit”, will monitor and assess the successes and failures of both individuals and the collective political system periodically through a utility to be known as the Continuous Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning System (MELS).
The proposed MELS will be developed within the framework of four major values: accountability, transparency, continuous improvement, and stewardship. The MELS provides a systematic process for monitoring, assessing, and reporting political and institutional performance and the progress being made toward achieving the development objectives outlined in the Campaign Declaration in terms of elected officials and Policy Agenda for heads of sensitive MDAs.
The MELS consists of a series of weekly, monthly, and quarterly, meetings, retreats, and reports that will be scheduled over the course of four-year elective and administrative tenures. The major feature of the MELS is the Performance Report Card and the Executive Dashboard that will be specifically designed to support programme analysis and evaluation by the think tank and concerned stakeholders. The Executive Dashboard provides empirical evidence to support data-informed command-and-control accountability in the improvement of governance and service delivery to the public.
Additionally, these tools will also reflect the commitment to providing multidimensional measures of institutional performance to key stakeholders—elected officials, policymakers, communities, CSOs etc.
The MELS Dashboard Report Card will be developed within the context of the commitment of the subject’s to continuously innovate solutions and increase performance in delivering on their pledges. The development of the report card will reflect the commitment to performance exemplified by the imperative to dramatically change the narrative within the geographical catchment the think tank will operate in, in order to forestall the social cataclysms staring down the catchment.
The Report Card will also be developed to support the achievement of the candidate’s mission, vision, and all other applicable purposes and to assure key stakeholders that indeed the candidate’s “talk” is being effectively walked. It will be designed to translate the vision and describe the long-term drivers of success – this is a means to enable the candidate as well as other relevant stakeholders to act on their words in the mission, vision, and purposes of governance.
The Report Card will be developed around the seven critical success factors (CSFs) that the think tank identifies as essential elements of sustaining and advancing the effectiveness of project/policy implementation in the coordination and management of development activities.
These critical success factors will serve as the basis for developing the objectives, strategies, annual tactics, and resource allocations for project/policy operations. These will be incorporated into the larger vision of sustained improvement of development outcomes. The seven critical success factors, combined with other state and federal higher-level development policies, will provide officials with an integrated guide for decision making, planning, priority setting, resource allocation, and measuring progress toward attaining improvement in key performance areas of a subject’s declarations. The Report Card will also have a cascading effect in that it links and aligns MDA support unit goals with the larger institutional goals of political reform policies.
Displayed behind the seven critical success factors will be the identified key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect the criteria and priorities for achieving each critical success factor. Two criteria will guide the establishment of the KPIs; effective reform outcome measures to assess project effectiveness and performance, and the availability of existing and comparison data for benchmarking purposes. The analysis of KPIs will entail using collected performance data to determine trends, projections, causes, and effects that might not be evident without analysis.
The KPI data and analysis will support a variety of purposes such as planning, reviewing performance, improving systems and processes, and comparing performance with similar development contexts as well as declarations conceived and coordinated by political and administrative institutions across the globe or with best practice benchmarks.
A scoring system will be adopted as part of the development of a theory of change in concert with concerned entities. The process of analysing and making sense out of the facts and figures on ground will also anchor the creation of a compendium of “lessons learned” that will inform the adoption of action steps aimed at avoiding similar missteps going forward.
With this dynamic thrown into the mix, it is expected that development planning will get a boost. The originators of this initiative are under no illusion that they can stamp out corrupt leadership but hopes to institute a bare minimum of accountability and focus achieved through methodical planning and execution.
The MEL Report Card format will be concise and will provide an easy-at a-glance digital layout to support examination and analysis by stakeholders. Trends will be reflected using vertical and horizontal arrows, along with four colours (blue, green, yellow, and red) to indicate distinctive, positive, unsatisfactory, or unacceptable performance for both CSFs and KPIs. Failures and/or missed targets will be followed up with a Lessons Learned section that provides a comprehensive diagnostics of remote and proximate challenges leading to said failures and/or missed targets. The design of the report card will be uncomplicated, and its development and maintenance supported by widely available viewing and formatting software/hardware.
The Report Card will be published in the form of a real-time feed on the think tank’s website as well as social media handles. Online and print media platforms can also be given access to the live feed.
The Circuit will launch in July, 2025 and hopes to mark the beginning of a new chapter in the development history of this dear land.