Monitoring and Evaluation for Agriculture and Rural Development Course

Introduction

Agriculture forms the backbone of many developing countries and is the main economic activity for the rural communities. Since its modest beginnings, the agricultural sector has become increasingly complex and multi-faceted. The challenge agriculture faces today is how to feed the world population in an equitable manner while protecting the environment from irreversible negative changes. Monitoring and Evaluation tools and techniques plays a key role in ensuring Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) projects are designed, implemented as planned to aid in ending hunger and poverty.

This course equips the participants with adequate skills to develop and manage robust M&E systems for effective management of ARD projects and programs. The learner is introduced to M&E frameworks indicators, tools and techniques for M&E for ARD.

Who should attend

This course is designed for researchers, project staff, development practitioners, managers and decision makers who are responsible for project, program or organization-level M&E in Agriculture and Rural Development programs.

Course Duration

5 Days

Course Objective

By the end of this course the participants will be able to:

Understand monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for ARD programs
Design ARD projects using logical framework analysis approach
Define different ARD indicators
Track performance indicators over the life of the project
Evaluate ARD programs against objectives and targets
Understand gender role in M&E in ARD programs
Conduct impact evaluations of ARD programs
Course Content

Introduction to M&E

Definition of Monitoring and Evaluation
Why Monitoring and Evaluation is important
Key principles and concepts in M&E
M&E in project lifecycle
Complementary roles of Monitoring and Evaluation
Agriculture and Rural Development Policy issues

Sustainable agriculture and rural development
Economic contribution of agriculture
Link between agriculture and rural development
Agriculture and food security
 M&E Frameworks in Agriculture and Rural Development

ARD Conceptual Frameworks
ARD Results Frameworks
Logical Framework Analysis (LFA)
LogFrame - Design of ARD projects using LogFrame
Agriculture and Rural Development Indicators

Indicator metrics
Linking indicators to results
Indicator Matrix
ARD indicator performance tracking
Sector-wide indicators for Agriculture and Rural Development
Specific indicators for Sub-sectors of Agriculture and Rural Development
Indicators for Thematic Areas related to Agriculture and Rural Development
M&E System and M&E Planning in ARD

Importance of an M&E Plan
Documenting M&E System in the M&E Plan
Components of an M&E Plan-Monitoring, Evaluation, Data management, Reporting
Using M&E Plan to implement M&E in a Project
Data Management for M&E in Agriculture and Rural Development

Sources of Data: Information systems, surveys, participatory poverty assessments, financial management tools
Use of different Surveys in data collection for ARD
 Participatory methods of data collection for ARD
Data analysis for ARD
Gender integration in M&E for Agriculture and Rural Development

Gender integration during project activities design
Gender indicators in ARD
Cross cutting gender issues in ARD
Measure of gender outcomes
Performance Evaluation of Agricultural and Rural Development programs

Determining evaluation points from results framework
Components of evaluations: implementation and process evaluations.
Evaluation designs- experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental
Performance evaluation process
Evaluation questions
Evaluation findings sharing and dissemination
Impact Evaluations for Agriculture and Rural Development

Introduction to impact evaluation
Attribution in impact evaluation
Estimation of counterfactual
Impact evaluation methods: Double difference, Propensity score matching
M&E Results Use and Dissemination

Use of M&E results to improve and strengthen ARD projects
Use of M&E Lessons learnt and Best Practices
Organization knowledge champions
M&E reporting
 Training Approach

This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.

Tailor-Made Course

This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: [email protected] Tel: +254 721 331 808

Training Venue 

The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group at requested location all over the world. The course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, and buffet lunch.

Visa application, travel expenses, airport transfers, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant

Certification

Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.