In the framework of the Ministry of International Co-operation’s efforts to co-ordinate and optimize the use of foreign aid to enhance its contribution to Egypt’s economic and social development, PEMA is charged to carry out four main functions:

First: Carrying out an evaluation of development projects
PEMA undertakes evaluations of development projects in order to ascertain their impact on target beneficiaries and the sustainability of such impact; drawing lessons learnt from evaluation and putting these at the disposal of policy and decision makers to assist in taking measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of assistance received; and disseminating to a wider audience a summary of evaluation results.

Since it started fieldwork in late 2003, PEMA has completed the evaluation of 20 projects in various sectors including education, health, environment, water, agriculture and tourism. Projects evaluated were funded by the World Bank, USA, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, and the European Union. It is worth noting that, at the invitation of CIDA, the Centre jointly evaluated Canada's assistance to the SME sector and participated in preparing the evaluation report in 2005. The Centre also jointly conducted with the Italian Cooperation a midterm evaluation of the Egyptian-Italian Environmental Cooperation Progamme.

Second: Supporting and upgrading the institutional capacity of M&E units in various line ministries

In this respect, PEMA organizes a series of workshops on M&E concepts and practices to upgrade competence of M&E units of participating ministries and establish a network linking these units to exchange information and experiences. The first workshop on M&E of development projects was conducted in July 2006. PEMA undertook the follow-up round of the first M&E workshop in March 2007. In addition, the Centre extends technical assistance to M&E staff in line ministries.

Third: Contributing to the Ministry's efforts to co-ordinate and harmonies international assistance

This function was added in 2005 following the Paris Declaration on Aid Harmonization, in order to maximize Egypt's benefit from this assistance. The Paris Declaration, endorsed on 2 March 2005, is an international agreement to which over one hundred ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials adhered and committed their countries and organizations to continue to increase efforts in harmonization, alignment and managing aid with a set of monitorable actions and indicators. The Centre undertakes a number of activities in this context:

           Taking part in Donors Assistance Group (DAG) meetings.
           Coordinating the 2006 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration that provides a practical, action-oriented roadmap to improve the quality of development assistance by coordinating between donors and recipients of aid. The Centre currently works with our development partners and concerned national authorities on improving the database on official development assistance (ODA).
           Participating in monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2007-2011, through the M&E Coordination Team, chaired by PEMA’s Executive Director, and evaluating the extent to which its outcomes are achieved.

PEMA collaborates with the Ministry's DECODE unit in preparing the Annual Egypt Development Co-operation Reports, having been involved in three previous reports and the fourth (for 2005), which is expected to be published in 2007.

Fourth: Preparing analytical studies especially on aspects of international co-operation and international economic relations.

PEMA has issued studies covering diverse topics such as agriculture, manpower, health, education, environment, communication and information technology, impact of 9/11 on international aid flows to the Middle East and North Africa, and the contribution of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to Egypt’s development efforts.

In addition, the Centre prepares policy briefs on selected developments and challenges influencing policy-making, as directed by the Minister.

The Centre, meanwhile, issues a quarterly newsletter – IMPACT – that focuses in each issue on an aspect of economic and social development, presenting expert views and highlighting selective experiences of developing countries relevant to the aspect in question.