THE e-dashboard developed by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to track the country’s progress in achieving the national development plan — Vision 2030 Jamaica — has been updated.

The monitoring and evaluation tool now includes an additional two indicators related to the monitoring of child development, as well as an enhanced website interface.

This will provide greater opportunity for stakeholders and the public to track the progress of the Vision 2030 Jamaica indicators over specific periods, as well as enhance the transparency and accountability of the monitoring and evaluation processes through innovative application of technology.

The updated platform, undertaken in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was launched at the PIOJ’s New Kingston offices on Monday.

Programme Director for the PIOJ’s Vision 2030 Jamaica Secretariat Elizabeth Emanuel explained that the newly introduced child development indicators will monitor national Grade Four Literacy outcomes.

It will also evaluate the percentage of students securing five or more subjects, inclusive of mathematics and/or English Language, in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Overall, she said the updated dashboard is designed to equip the Jamaican populace and other interested parties with the tools to actively participate in the process of monitoring the plan’s successful implementation.

UNICEF’s monitoring and evaluation specialist in Jamaica, Donneth Edmonson, in welcoming the facility, described the introduction of the new indicators as a “step in the right direction”.

“We are pleased that we were able to contribute in this regard and I encourage all of us to leave here with a mandate and purpose to use the dashboard…and provide the feedback so that we can have further improvements,” she added.

In his remarks, PIOJ deputy director general, Richard Lumsden, said the e-dashboard is “one of the many ways in which the PIOJ and the Vision 2030 Jamaica Secretariat seek to engage and keep our stakeholders informed on the progress that we are making in implementing our long-term national development plan”.

The e-dashboard, launched in December 2013, is maintained and supported by the JamStats Secretariat in the PIOJ.