The Liberian Government, through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has officially commenced an intensive training in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for over 200 government employees under the Liberia Women Empowerment Project (LWEP).
The nine-day training exercise which has many phases at different levels will run for the following dates: November 1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21 and December 4, 2024.
November 1, 2024 marked the official commencement of phase one at the City of Paynesville. This training is part of Component 4 of the LWEP which focuses on strengthening public institutions to advance gender equality
The training targets staff of the Gender Social Inclusion Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and MoGCSP gender coordinators from all fifteen counties, to strengthen their skills and knowledge in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment across Liberia.
The Ministry of Education, Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry Internal Affairs, joined the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) at the start of Phase One.
The initiative is part of the LWEP, funded by a $44.6 million grant and loan from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, with a project duration spanning from 2022 to June 2027.
At the opening of the event, the Assistant Minister for Research, Planning and Policy at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, on behalf of the Minister of Gender, Agnes Marshall, lauded 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.
The Assistant Minister also stressed that the initiative will help M&E officers to identify their gaps and improve governance.
Madam Marshall also reminded the participants about the benefits of utilizing every opportunity that comes their way. “Especially this workshop, I urge you all to take advantage of it to make a positive impact of the citizens,” she stressed.
Also speaking, one of the participants, Rachael M. Borkal, M&E Person of the Gender Social and Inclusion Unity (GSIU) at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, expressed optimism of gaining more knowledge of M&E at the end of the workshop.
“The GSIU cuts across all ministries and line agencies. We’ve been having issues with the lack of mobility to access our units and inadequate monitoring and evaluation but I’m sure this workshop will address some of these challenges we face,” she stated.
Festus Z. Tarpar, M&E Focal Person at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, disclosed that the M&E Department at the ministry is being restructured to ensure trained personnel do proper data collection. “One key challenge is the capacity building and data management to enable our staff to have their hands-on desk in achieving our desired goals,” he noted.
Tarpar also promised to impact his colleagues at the ministry with the knowledge and skills he will gain from the training. “As part of that, it will help us in improving governance,” he said.
At the same time, the Gender Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Barbra Z. Quaye, alluded to a weak or ineffective M&E system at the ministry, stressing that the training is poised to address this concern and strengthen their capacity in monitoring and evaluation.
“We don’t also have a database system that helps us analyze data and as a result, we often run to LISGIS to get certain major information,” she noted. Madam Quaye indicated that an effective date system at the ministry will enhance the capacity of staff.
Samuel K. Ekyinabah, Director for Research and Statistics at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, expressed hope of improving his data collection and management expertise in the ministry.
Many of the participants believe that the training is timely, and will serve a greater purpose at 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 enhance 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.