Monitoring & Evaluation of the Impact of Reforms in Telecommunications & Postal Sectors on Poverty
The World Bank-funded Telecommunications and Postal Sector Reform Project launched in 2003 provided assistance to the GOS in the reform process. The Project aimed to increase competition and private sector participation, strengthen institutional and regulatory capacities, and enhance service provision particularly in the rural areas. With the establishment of the Office of the Regulator and partial liberalization of the international gateway, important milestones were reached, and significant results are observable especially in the mobile phone market.
In 2008, the Government of Samoa through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) initiated the process of recruiting an individual consultant to assist the Ministry in assessing the impact of reforms in the telecommunications and postal sectors on poverty levels and vulnerable groups in Samoa. An international M&E consultant was engaged in February 2009 to undertake the consulting services with support from a Samoan consultant.
The objectives of the consulting services provided by FCG New Zealand were two-fold:
- Assist MCIT to develop an analytical framework for evaluating the impact of reforms, and
- Implement the impact assessment using the framework.
The main output from the consultancy was an M&E framework for evaluating the impact of reforms on identified vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The framework would primarily define the scope of monitoring in the remaining Project period and set out key indicators of impacts and outcomes, and the means or methods to generate these key indicators over time.