WEST AFRICA CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTE

POST EVALUATION REPORT MONITORING AND EVALUATION TRAINING COURSE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IN CONAKRY, GUINEA, AUGUST 8-10, 2011

INTRODUCTION WACSI in partnership with OSIWA organised a training course from 8-10, August, 2011 on Monitoring and Evaluation in Conakry, Guinea. Out of 21 participants, there were 7 females and 14 males. At the end of the training course, participants assessed the delivery of the course by answering the questions in a questionnaire giving to them. The questionnaire was composed of three sessions- Overall Course Delivery, Course Content and Course Duration. SESSION A Overall Course Delivery In this session participants were asked to rate their level of satisfaction in relation to the overall delivery of the workshop and give reasons to support their ratings. The ratings ranged from 3, 2 and 1 indicating, very satisfied, satisfied and not satisfied respectively. Below is a tabular presentation of the ratings in percentage by the participants. Percentage Rating Outcomes of Participants Areas of Assessment 1. 2. Overall Impression Where your objectives met? Very Satisfied 48% 57% 33% 76% Satisfied 52% 43% 67% 24% Not satisfied 0% 0% 0% 0%

3. Rate your satisfaction with training materials 4. Did the workshop help build on knowledge & skills? 5. How effective The discussions was the methodology? The exercises

29%

67%

4%

43%

43%

14%

Participants Response to Ratings Overall Impression The participants provided the following responses to explain their ratings: The course was well organised; Tools and methodology were well elaborated; The content of the course was good; The course was relevant because it enhanced skills and understanding on the topic; The content was comprehensive; Very satisfied with the course; This course will influence behavioral change; The course was very educative in a sense that participants learnt a lot of things about M&E which will contribute to the evolution of their organisations and other partner organisations; Very satisfied with the topics of the training, but the time was too short; The course gave us a perfect understanding of M&E concept; and The course was good in terms of the training materials. Were your objectives met Participants responded as follows: Yes, objectives were met because the course had already taken into account the expectations; The course strengthened and better equipped in the area of M&E; The course introduced new issues about M&E systems; The course provided me an exhaustive knowledge on M&E systems; Yes, on how to establish a monitoring and evaluation system; Yes, I learnt many things I had not known; The course exceeded my expectations; Clear ideas specially on the topic of evaluation systems; and The workshop met expectations. Course Training Materials The course training materials were: Very useful and exposed new ideas; Well prepared; Adapted to the needs of the trainees; Very useful; Appreciable; Easy to understand; Sufficient; Very rewarding; Comprehensive; More detailed and captured all the objectives outlined; Very good and practical; Excellent; Professional; and The course was well-organised. 3

Knowledge and skills Acquisition Participants acknowledged the usefulness of the course referring to their previous level of knowledge on the topic. Responses were: The course helped to build skills; Learnt a lot of key concepts on M&E; Learnt a lot of new concepts; Shared experiences; Built effective management skills on M&E systems; Learnt a lot of new things, which can be shared with others; Improved knowledge and skills on the new elements and forms of evaluation; Satisfied curiosity on certain issues relevant to M&E; Yes, capacities have been strengthened in monitoring and evaluation techniques; Improved knowledge and skills and will advocate for M&E unit within my organisation; and Learnt differences between monitoring and evaluation and how to produce M&E tools. Training Methodology Discussion Participants provided the following responses: Very rewarding; Constructive; Provided more understanding; Helped benefit from others' experiences; In most cases time allowed was inadequate to exhaust discussions; and Active participation of the participants. Exercises Participants articulated the following responses: Enhanced participation and facilitated assimilation; Helped to better understand the concept; Enabled to be more effective; Good methodology (exercise before the training); Inadequate due to shortness of the time; Helped to benefit from others' experiences; Hope next time hands on exercises could be improved by given more explanation or monitoring the groups. Was a learning process; Comprehensive enough for professional work; and Very good and useful experiences were shared.

SESSION B Course Content How effective was the components (listed in the box below) in building your M&E knowledge and skills. Percentage Rating Outcomes of Participants Very useful, Satisfied with Not am very this topic, satisfied, satisfied may be useful may not be useful 67% 0%

Monitoring and Evaluation

Introduction on the M&E theories 33% and processes Techniques for planning monitoring and evaluation for 48%

52%

0%

Tools, methods and approaches for monitoring and evaluation

62%

38%

0%

4 Designing a monitoring evaluation process

and/or

52%

48%

0%

Donors expectations on M&E

43%

52%

5%

Collecting, analysing and reporting Information

52%

48%

0%

Case Studies on monitoring and evaluation

33%

62%

5%

Write one or two sentences to describe what you learned from the workshop Learnt about participatory M&E approaches; Learned that M&E helps to ameliorate the results and makes them more credible to the partners and the donors; Learned that the objective tree helps to find solutions to problems; Learned the importance of M&E on programming; Learned the main activities of monitoring and evaluation; Learned to be rigorous about the process of monitoring and evaluation and selection of appropriate indicators and be able to control most of the process; Learned how to design an M&E system; Learned that M & E is an ongoing process and it helps share information; Learned the tools for setting up a monitoring system; and Learned about the 4 main tools of M&E. Advice for West African trainers in delivering this workshop Trainers should give more time for group work; Multiply opportunities for such a training within the sub-region; Need more time for such a training, maximum one week; Allow more time for better understanding of the subject; Expand this training to other organizations and add more days; Help organisations to establish M&E system; Continue this capacity building work across the sub-region; Reduce the content of exercises for more understanding; Should prepare more examples from the countries; Quote more case studies from West Africa; Initiate more practical exercises and Advocate for such training on other topics for West African civil society organisations. Assessment of Trainers Very good methodology; Trainer was professional in the engagement of participants and also very friendly; The trainer was very aware, knowledgeable and professional Very good communication; Has clear understanding of the topics; Excellent facilitating skills, keeps the training sessions lively; and The trainer is professional, explanatory, with energizing strategies.

SESSION C Course Duration Percentage Rating Outcome of Participants Course duration Too Short 48% About Right 52% Too long 0%