Annual report on assuring quality at the Economic Commission for Africa: achievements, challenges and lessons learned 2017

Abstract

In the present report, the achievements, challenges and lessons learned in the delivery of the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) quality assurance function in 2017 are presented. This is the third edition of the annual report on assuring quality at ECA; it is particularly relevant as the report is written at the end of the ECA Operational Quality Policy and Plan 2014-2017. Accordingly, while the report is focused on 2017, it also reflects on the commission’s performance in delivering its quality assurance function in the entire period of the policy and plan. The main objective was to ensure that all major ECA products and services delivered in the period under review were quality reviewed and that the divisions and sub regional offices that delivered the products and services recognized the value addition of the quality assurance exercises. Another objective was to seize opportunities to improve the understanding of ECA staff of the commission’s quality assurance function. In that regard, efforts were made to demonstrate how quality assurance is an integral part of program and project management and not a standalone function. It was envisaged that an understanding of this holistic perspective would facilitate the delivery of the ECA quality assurance function. The rest of this report is structured as follows. In section 2, the results achieved in 2017 under the different ECA quality assurance policy objectives are presented. Section 3 contains a discussion on the challenges and lessons learned in implementing quality assurance practices and section 4 concludes the report by presenting the way forward for the quality assurance function of ECA.