Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

I really can’t wait to get back to my organization to make a huge impact. Learnt a lot

Well done to all facilitators for impacting so much in us also I commend you guys for being patient with us and leading us to a good learning experience.

An overall great experience it was for me. Good delivery system and quite helpful training resources. I commend the efforts of the facilitators in blending professionalism with some degree of friendship. I felt at home. Good job Cloneshouse. It can be better though.

Feedback from our participants

To move Results-based Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) from an activity to a system will depend on the professional development and organizational capacity building to support monitoring and evaluation. Micheal Scriven has always mentioned, “People matter”. We do so as well, by delivering the professional practice of M&E to the Nigerian community, as a scheduled course. In the last scheduled course, we had 24 participants from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, immersed in an 8 – day, 45 hours – participatory M&E training.

A cross section of participants at the fall 2018 Results-based M&E Training

A cross section of participants at the fall 2018 Results-based M&E Training

The training which kickstarted on September 3 – 10 had 11 participants from the government ministries, departments and agencies, 4 from the private sector, 2 from International Non-Government Organizations, 5 from Non-Government Organizations, and 2 from Development Consulting Organizations. Our schedule course training starts with online communications a month preceding the face-face part of the training. 85% of our participants found the reading list and course materials sent ahead of training very useful.

8 out of 18 respondents said our course was excellent, while 10 others said it was good. 13 said our facilitators were excellent, while 5 said they were good. 11 said their feeling about the course was excellent, 6 said they felt it was good, while 1 person said it was fair

8 days of group work, fun and games, case – studies, capstone projects, hands-on, brain teasers, with lots of post-it notes make all our participants wanting to recommend our training to others. 8 out of 18 respondents said our course was excellent, while 10 others said it was good. 13 said our facilitators were excellent, while 5 said they were good. 11 said their feeling about the course was excellent, 6 said they felt it was good, while 1 person said it was fair. Certainly, there are still some nuts to tighten, especially in making sure practical sessions and activities match course modules provided.

Participants – in a group developing result frameworks for their case studies

Participants – in a group developing result frameworks for their case studies

In the last 5 years of holding this scheduled course on M&E, participants have always highlighted the importance of creating a community of practice for this field in Nigeria. A larger percentage of participants in this training alluded to having a professional association so that learnings can be reinforced, and members can take advantage of resources available, especially as it will provide a platform for cross-pollination of ideas. It is noteworthy that there are already in existence three Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation in-country, but none of our participants knew they existed. Perhaps, collaboration to strengthen their activities might be pertinent.

A number of our participants have advised that our scheduled courses should also hold in other African cities like Lagos, and Dakar. This is a welcome idea for us, however, it is most often, a case of limited resources in organizing such scheduled courses. Also noting the fact that Cloneshouse Nigeria channels more of its energy into long-term consulting with an organization that is hoping to build a system rather than an activity. Nevertheless, the training team is open to exploring collaborations with other development organizations that are interested in supporting our scheduled courses in other regions.

This 8 – day training always gives us a new perspective about this field and how important it is to deliver on programmes from the international to the local level. It also ends by adding new participants to our growing pool of mentees, as all participants, enjoy a one-year mentorship with the training team. After every scheduled course, our participants are always curious to know when the next one will hold, or if we will be interested in delivering this training to their network of NGOs. Why not. Give us a shout – out, and let’s fill in the gaps for you!

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