MONROVIA — The Liberian government, through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has officially commenced an intensive training program in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for over 200 government employees under the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP).
This nine-day training exercise will occur in multiple phases on November 1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, and December 4, 2024.
November 1 marked the beginning of the first phase in Paynesville City. This training is part of Component 4 of the LWEP, which focuses on strengthening public institutions to advance gender equality.
The training targets staff from the Gender Social Inclusion unit of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), MoGCSP, and gender coordinators from all fifteen counties, aiming to enhance their skills and knowledge in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment across Liberia.
The Ministry of Education, Ministry of National Defense, and Ministry of Internal Affairs joined the Ministry of Agriculture and the MoGCSP in launching the first phase.
This initiative, funded by a $44.6 million grant and loan from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, will run from 2022 to June 2027.
At the event’s opening, the Assistant Minister for Research, Planning, and Policy at MoGCSP, speaking on behalf of Minister Agnes Marshall, praised the participants for attending the workshop.
“As you know, this workshop is very important to us because it will assess our performance and indicate whether we are implementing projects according to our plans to achieve our goals,” she said. She also emphasized that the initiative would help M&E officers identify gaps and improve governance.
Madam Marshall reminded participants about the benefits of leveraging every opportunity that comes their way, saying, “Especially this workshop, I urge you all to take advantage of this to make a positive impact on the citizens.”
Rachael M. Borkal, an M&E officer with the Gender Social Inclusion Unit (GSIU) at MoGCSP, expressed optimism about gaining more M&E knowledge by the workshop’s end. “The GSIU cuts across all ministries and agencies. We’ve faced challenges with mobility to access our units and inadequate monitoring and evaluation, but I’m hopeful this workshop will address some of these issues,” she said.
Festus Z. Tarpar, M&E Focal Person at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, disclosed that the M&E Department at his ministry is undergoing restructuring to ensure proper data collection. “One key challenge is capacity building and data management to equip our staff to achieve our desired goals.”
Tarpar pledged to share the knowledge and skills gained from the training with his colleagues, stating, “This will help us improve governance.”
The Gender Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Madam Barbra Z. Quaye, highlighted a weak M&E system at the ministry, emphasizing that the training would address this concern and bolster their capacity in monitoring and evaluation. “We also lack a database system for data analysis, and we often rely on LISGIS for crucial information,” she noted, adding that an effective data system would strengthen their operations.
Samuel K. Ekyinabah, Director for Research and Statistics at MoGCSP, expressed hope that the training would enhance his expertise in data collection and management.
Many participants view the training as timely and believe it will serve an essential purpose within their respective ministries and agencies.
The training covers essential topics to build institutional capacities for gender-focused initiatives. Key areas of focus include Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) System assessment, developing M&E Plans for the Street Children Project, and practical, on-the-job training to improve monitoring throughout project implementation.
The program also includes a two-day MELKM (Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Knowledge Management) strategy session with stakeholders and specialized training for county-level data collection, enabling Gender Coordinators and other participants to apply best practices in information management systems.
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