di News - Papua New Guinea Moving Ahead with Using PNGInfo to Monitor Human Development Progress

Papua New Guinea Moving Ahead with Using PNGInfo to Monitor Human Development Progress

The National Planning and Monitoring Department of Papua New Guinea has collaborated with five departments to launch PNGInfo, the National Government’s first information system to monitor the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and other development indicators. Officially launched on 9 July 2009, PNGInfo is a country adaptation of the DevInfo database system endorsed by the United Nations for
monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other national priorities.

The PNGInfo database will serve as an
information site for the Government, planners, implementers, academics and international partners and donors. The five departments – Agriculture and Livestock, Environment and Conservation, Health, Education and Community Development – also signed a memorandum of understanding as implementing agencies of the PNG Info system to coordinate data collection and entry and to analyse the information.

At the launch, National Planning and Monitoring secretary Joseph Lelang stated that the PNG Info
system was set up with the help of the National Statistical Office and the United Nations. He

explained that the database showed the progress or performance of each department over time in working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals as well as other development indicators in PNG. The progress of each development goal and development indicator can be displayed in maps, tables and graphs. He affirmed that the system would help the Government in its policy analysis and development planning by providing access to statistical information such as population through the database system.

Also at the launch, UN country coordinator Dr. Jacquie Badcock presented new sets of computers to the five implementing agencies, all with software installed to effectively implement data collection and entry.

Since the launch, seven national government agencies have conducted several PNGInfo trainings to train staff in using the database system. In addition, at least four provincial governments have been trained in the use of the system.

A PNGInfo Development Team chaired by the National Planning and Monitoring Department has also been formed, tasked with the development of more databases for the PNGInfo database system. Upcoming activities include Database Administrator training and ToT for the members of the PNGInfo Development Team.

DevInfo is a powerful database system for monitoring human development endorsed by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) to assist countries in monitoring achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To download a copy of this royalty-free software, please visit http://www.devinfo.org/di_downloads.html.

For more information on PNGInfo 2.0, please contact Maria-Louise Wau at maria_wau@planning.gov.pg.

Source: “First info set-up”, The NATIONAL Newspaper, Port Moresby, NCD, Papua New Guinea, 31 July 2009.