PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION WORKSHOP WITH 2 DAY COMMUNITY PRACTICUM

A Six-Day PM&E Workshop that will show you how to:

• RETHINK your own monitoring & evaluation strategies and approaches;
• MASTER participatory PM & E tools for the workplace;
• FACILITATE PM&E processes for your project, programme or organization;
• DEVELOP monitoring and evaluation plans in a more participatory manner;
• INTEGRATE qualitative and participatory methods into monitoring and evaluation.

Background:

Monitoring and Evaluation is a vital management tool. Communities, organizations and development organizations need to know how effective their efforts have been. But, a key question being asked is "Who should make these judgments, and on what basis?". Too often, it is outside "experts" who are completing the report card primarily to fulfill an accountability function for the funding organization.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is a different approach involving a wide range of stakeholders such as local people, community organizations, NGOs, and development agencies deciding together about how to measure results and what actions should follow once this information has been collected and analysed. PM&E can reveal valuable lessons and improve accountability for all stakeholders, not simply the funding organization. For local stakeholders, PM & E is an opportunity to build their own capacity to reflect and analyse their program's progress and the action that might be required to take corrective action. These are essential ingredients to helping stakeholders to establish, own and implement their own monitoring and evaluation systems.

Why You Should Attend?

It is imperative that we begin to critically examine more conventional approaches to monitoring and evaluation that have failed to build capacity of local stakeholders to reflect, analyse and act on their own initiatives. Development initiatives must be more responsive and accountable to local communities, organizations and Government. Involving local stakeholders in a more participatory monitoring and evaluation process is critical to building capacity, learning and action for informing their own decision-making. Development agencies, NGOs and intermediaries can take a leading role to spearhead such efforts and develop monitoring and evaluation systems that are more responsive.

Who Should Attend:

The workshop is intended for:

• Project Managers & Officers who are responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of their programs, projects or organizations;
• Directors and Program staff of Monitoring and Evaluation units;
• Community leaders and workers with project responsibilities;
• Decision-makers who are looking at new ways to redesign their own operations to make them more participatory and responsive to local needs;
• Consultants called upon to provide technical expertise in the areas of PM&E.

Workshop Structure:

This is an intensive six day workshop set in the community to maximize learning, group interaction and networking. Sessions begin at 8:30 in the morning and run all day including some evenings, particularly Monday evening.

Day 1: Introduction to Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E)

• Setting the context: the origins of participatory monitoring and evaluation
• Key concepts related to participatory monitoring and evaluation
• Who are the Question-makers in PM&E?
• Skills and attributes of a PM&E facilitator
• Collecting baseline data
• Participants design a PM&E framework for the workshop.
• 5:00 - 6:00 Social Hour

Day 2: Learning the PM&E Tools

Participants will learn a wide range of tools that are essential to facilitating participatory monitoring and evaluation processes. Participants will learn semi-structured interviewing, formulating open vs. close-ended questions, using qualitative and quantitative indicators, collecting baseline and the importance of triangulation . Participants will have many opportunities to practice and hone their facilitation skills learning how to effectively deal with saboteurs and dominators. Finally, participants will be exposed to a range of PRA and PLA tools such as community mapping, ranking and sorting, venn diagrams, impact drawings, seasonal calendars, gender tools to be applied to a PM & E context and appreciative inquiry.

Day 3: More PM&E Tools, Preparing for the Community Assignment

• Participants will continue learning new PM&E tools.
• Develop team strategy for community assignment.
• Analyse team weaknesses and strengths.
• Departure for assignments.
• Evening work with team

Day 4 & 5: Practice PM&E Assignments in the Community

Mosaic will organize three-day community assignments based on monitoring and evaluation needs and issues identified by the host organization. Project teams will work together intensively, practicing tools learned in the workshop and adapting them to real life situations. To date, workshop participants have worked with community-based organizations on the following topics:

• The changing public perceptions of AIDS;
• The effectiveness of the Street Ambassador's programme;
• Evaluate effectiveness of anonymous HIV testing campaign;
• Evaluation of a women's drop-in centre;
• Evaluation of a business-sponsored parade;
• Input from service providers and users of local health centre;
• Develop evaluation tools to evaluate aboriginal cultural program;
• Assessing the early discharge and lack of community care on seniors.
• Evening Work, Consolidating Your Team Report

Day 6: Group Reports, Building Your Action Plan & Evaluation

• presentation of team reports by each group
• preparing an action plan for when you return to your workplace
• evaluation and wrap-up for 2:00 pm.

How Will This be Achieved?

This is a practical, iterative and hands-on workshop. The format will vary between small group work and discussion, plenary, and practical community assignments to encourage the sharing of knowledge and application of participatory concepts and tools to real life situations. Participants will go out into the community on a daily basis to apply tools and to learn by doing.

The community practice assignments will be in one of five different communities in and around Ottawa. Teams of participants will carry out a simulated participatory monitoring and evaluation exercise, using the tools learned in the workshop and defined by the host organization. Where appropriate, links will be made to existing community groups and their issues. Evening meetings and on-going team-building exercises will be part of this process.

The Workshop Site and Accommodations

The workshop venue has been changed to take place at the University Of Ottawa at 90 University Street in the heard of Ottawa. This is in the neighborhood of Sandy Hill in downtown Ottawa, minutes away from the beautiful market.  For accomodations check out our web page under briefing.

Participants are responsible for arranging their own accommodations and meals. Accommodations range in price from CAD $ 20- $ 120 per night depending on your budget and taste. Accommodations listed on our enclosed information sheet and the web site Briefing page are all within walking distance of the workshop. Reservations should be made early to avoid disappointment.

All participants including local participants from the Ottawa and the Outaouais area are expected to reside with the team in their placement community Wednesday to Friday nights of the training workshop. Shared group accommodations during the three-day community practice will be arranged in advance by the workshop organizers and will average about CAD $ 22-55 per person per night. Participants are responsible for paying for the three night group accommodations.

The Facilitators

Françoise Coupal is Director of Mosaic.net International, a private consulting firm dedicated to providing innovative solutions to development. Françoise is an experienced facilitator and trainer in participatory methods having designed and delivered successful workshops for the World Bank, the UNDP, CIDA, UNIFEM, the World Food Programme and a variety of International Non-Governmental Organizations. Françoise has worked closely with organizations to mainstream participatory methods and approaches into their management practices. She has designed a PM&E system for a Maternal and Early Childhood Development Project in China and is currently working on a CIDA supported project in Niger and Mexico to design PM&E systems. Françoise holds graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Carleton University in International Affairs and Development Studies in particular. She undertook her Bachelor of Arts at UCLA.

Helen Patterson is a partner at Mosaic. She is an organizational development consultant and with over 15 year experience in international development. She has worked with various organizations, including the World Bank, UNDP, CIDA, GTZ , OXFAM, World Vision as well as many local NGOs in Canada. She has lived and worked in Malawi, Madagascar, Costa Rica and Egypt. Helen has used her skills in Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry and Results Based Management in a variety of themes and sectors (ie. HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, water, soil and waste management, community health, homelessness, leadership and capacity building etc.). She has carried out training in participatory methods for project planning, implementation, monitoring & evaluation with a wide variety of organizations and community groups. Helen holds a B.A. in Economics from McGill University & a M.S.c. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wales and an M.A.in organizational development from Concordia University.

Bob Vandenberg is an Associate at Mosaic and has 23 years of humanitarian and development work experience. He has been employed overseas by the United Nations (Indonesia and Malawi), CARE (Kenya), the private sector (Egypt), and most recently, the Canadian Red Cross (Sri Lanka). As a Performance Management Consultant for twelve years, he has assisted teams in 22 different countries, advising on a full range of issues: monitoring and evaluation, program planning and design, performance measurement and reporting, capacity building, organizational change and development, and team building. Bob has strong adult learning and facilitation skills honed from direct experience designing and delivering numerous training and working sessions for groups in very diverse cultural contexts. He has sector expertise in adult learning, food security, humanitarian relief, and community-based development. Bob holds an Agriculture B.Sc., an International Development M.A., and an Adult Education Diploma.

Registration Fee

1) Government, UN system, Multinationals:  $ 1595 CAD ; 2) NGO/Consultant rate:  $ 1276 CAD which represents a 20% discount; 3) Full-time student:  $ 995 CAD . Please note that all participants should have a basic knowledge of English and be able to express themselves in the English language.

The workshop fee includes: Workshop fees, a binder of tools and resource materials, snacks and coffee.

Please be sure to read the Briefing for Registered Participants for travel tips, what to bring, weather, community placements, etc....

Make sure to tell us which of the workshops you'd like to attend!