Overview
People meet to engage and dialogue collectively in forums such as meetings, workshops, conferences, or just open market processes. The forums are usually designed for participants to interact directly (face-to-face) but indirect means (on-line) are increasingly becoming popular. For many development projects, such forums have a strong element of training and/or capacity development for a particular purpose.
Right Track Africa (RTA) has been engaged in organizing and implementing numerous training workshops for participants to learn and use its key project management skills – strategy development, project monitoring and evaluation reviews. A special training demanded has been knowledge and application of outcome mapping and harvesting. RTA has also been engaged in organizing forums to enable organizers and participants learn, review and plan in aspects that are not related to any of its strengths, the service being provided being an entire management of an effective dialogue process to its conclusion.
The success of any training or dialogue forum dialogue depends on how well it is designed, starting with objective specifics, the participants involved and how each contribution is given space to contribute to the final results.
RTA Training and Forum Facilitation Projects
Training in monitoring, evaluation outcome mapping and harvesting (2007 to 2020)
Julius Nyangaga, from Right Track Africa (RTA), has trained numerous from projects and organizations in various aspects of project monitoring and evaluation but especially the knowledge and application of outcome mapping and harvesting. This was since his training at Haramaya University in 2006. He has deeply intensified his M&E knowledge and capacity starting with his appointment as the Regional M&E and Learning Manager for the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) between 2011 and 2013. He is passionate about outcome-oriented project planning, management, monitoring and evaluation following his introduction to Outcome Mapping in 2005 by IDRC, Ottawa. Julius has been a Steward of the Outcome Mapping Learning Community (OMLC) since then, and facilitates training forums for Outcome Mapping and Harvesting methods (while applying the two approaches in actual evaluations). Between 2012 and 2017, the late Ricardo Wilson-Grau, a fellow steward in the OMLC, mentored Julius in Outcome Harvesting.
Organizations for which Julius (from RTA) has led M&E and Outcome and Harvesting training workshops include the following.
- ASARECA (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa)
- Care International: Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda
- Sikika, Tanzania
- ADRA (The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International): Kenya, Malawi and Ghana
- Salvation Army: Kenya and Malawi
- Undugu Society, Kenya
- Southern Hemisphere, a global trainer based in Johannesburg, S Africa
- TechnoServe, Kenya
- Tegemeo Institute Of Agricultural Policy And Development, Egerton University, Kenya
… and many others
Organizations and projects for which Julius has facilitated workshops include the following, among many others
RTA’s forum and training facilitation assignments
1. Feed the Future – Rwanda Policy Round Table (Nov 2019)
This was a policy review and planning workshop titled “Joint sharing and planning for improved livestock policies” for Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. The Roundtable meeting aimed to provide to key policy stakeholders in Rwanda’s livestock sector an opportunity to explore their current collaboration and communication processes, especially along the continuum between research and policy-making, and identify new modalities for effectively sharing relevant knowledge from livestock science and contribute to more informed policy formulation and implementation. The Roundtable also intended to contribute to the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab’s ongoing mission of developing human and institutional capacity in Rwanda, and support collaborative efforts that lead to solid developmental impacts. The forum was held in Kigali, Rwanda, with participants being stakeholders in the livestock sector, including representatives from different ministries and agencies within the government, universities, development partners, NGOs, producer associations and the private sector. Julius (from RTA) was among the facilitation team).
2. AfriCLP Support in Proposal Development (2018 – 2019)
The African Climate Change Leadership Program (AfriCLP) is implemented by the University of Nairobi, in collaboration with the Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA) in the University of Dar es Salaam, funded by a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The overall objective of the program is to develop leadership capacity of African researchers, policy advisers and practitioners for advancement in current climate knowledge, long-term adaptation, decision-making and climate action thus improving the effectiveness of science-policy-practice interface for positive impact in society. Julius was engaged by the program to provide training in how to organize and facilitate effective science-policy dialogues at the national and international levels. Julius (from RTA) has facilitated two of the forums, the first held November 2017, and the second in February 2018, both in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Julius was also invited to mentor the Fellows on the same project teams and staff between March 2018 and March 2019.
3. Workshop on Gender Dynamics in Seed Systems (Nov 2019)
The CYMMIT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre) program (at the World AfroForestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya) organized a one-day workshop platform for participants to explore opportunities and deliberate on common actions needed to address the challenges of low involvement of women in seed systems business. The participants were expected to address opportunities and challenges that can be addressed to increase the number of women entrepreneurs in the seed sector (achieving gender equality in the sector). The workshop was held on December 2, 2019, at the Nairobi Safari Club Hotel (Lilian Towers). There were about 50 participants representing farmers, researchers, seed distributors, development partners (especially civil society organizations (CSOs)) working with farming communities, and the government (or national policy institutions.). Julius (from RTA) was the lead facilitator.
4. A Strategy Development Workshop for Plan International (Sep 2018)
Julius (from RTA) was engaged to facilitate a strategy workshop for the Plan International AU Liaison Office (PAO) for the advocacy and program strategy which focused on addressing the challenges facing children especially girls. The workshop was attended by 27 staff and representatives from across the Plan Federation: the International HQ, Regional Offices, Country Offices, Liaison Offices, National Offices and some of their development partners, including INGOs, CSOs and the African Union. The workshop was held 24-28 September 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda.
5. AU’s NEPAD’s NDC Training (Apr 2018)
This was a training and planning workshop for government officials from selected African countries on National Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the agriculture sector. The workshop was held April 2018 at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya, funded by GIZ, and implemented by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The trainees were from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia, and Julius (from RTA) was the lead facilitator. The objective was to create a broader understanding of NDCs so that they could know in detail of (a) What needs to be done, (b) How and (c) Possible financing mechanisms.
6. Ford Foundation IFP Workshop (May, 2017)
The Ford Foundation organized a two-day conference for its IFP East Africa Alumni. The IFP (International Fellowships Program supports advanced studies for social change leaders from 22 countries (Asia, Africa, Latin America, Russia, and the Middle East) including graduate or postgraduate degree programs. The main objective of the conference was to highlight beneficiaries’ experiences, presentations and show casing aimed at identifying individual and communal gains, challenges and opportunities realized. The conference was held May 3 to 5, 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya, facilitated by Julius from RTA.
7. Training Workshop for the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) (Apr 2015)
The East Africa Dairy Development Project (EADD) program had a vision of doubling dairy related incomes for smallholder farmers by enhancing dairy production and market access for smallholder farmers in East Africa. The project was funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and implemented through a consortium of five organizations: Heifer International-the lead partner, Techno Serve (TNS), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), African Breeders Total Cattle Management (ABS-TCM) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). On April 13 2015, EADD Kenya held a one-day stakeholder workshop in Eldoret, bringing together stakeholders/partners in the dairy animals feed industry working in north, south and central rift valley. The main aim of the workshop was to deliberate on how to improve and sustain supply of input for production, information flow and marketing of fodder and feeds. Julius (from RTA) facilitated the workshop.