PICOTEAM is a network-organisation with nodes in Africa, Latin America and Europe
that supports efforts to bring about change and innovations for sustainable development.
Our Experiences
Project |
Guided self evaluation of INADES, with a special emphasis on organisational development |
Duration |
04 - 12.2005 |
Country / Region |
Sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Tanzania) |
Services delivered |
Suggesting a process design comprising three major steps:
- Joint elaboration of terms of reference, i.e. MISEREOR together with INADES formation.
- Case studies in three of the 10 member countries
- Questionnaires to be sent to all national offices and associations
- Presentation of results and agreement on a change agenda at a forum where representatives from all member countries, the governing council and the general secretariat met with representatives from the financial partners.
Facilitating the joint elaboration of strengths, weaknesses, obstacles and threats regarding the working programme of the respective national office. Facilitating dialogue with local partners (farmer associations, local NGOs) in order to provide feedback to the respective national team. Facilitating lessons learnt to emerge from the workshops held with the national team and the representatives of the national association. Providing critical feedback from the evaluator’s perspective (team of 2 evaluators, 1 nominated by MISEREOR, 1 nominated by INADES Formation) Elaborating a draft report reflecting process and results as an input to the forum which served for validating the report and agreeing on a change agenda.
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Achievements |
The assisted self evaluation process comprised the following major steps:
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Joint elaboration of terms of reference, i.e. MISEREOR together with INADES formation. This took place in a 2 day workshop held in Germany in April 2005.
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Case studies in three of the 10 member countries, i.e. Burkina Faso, Burundi and Tanzania where the evaluation team stayed for about a week each. The evaluation team also worked with the team in the general secretariat in Abidjan for a week.
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Presentation of results and agreement on a change agenda at a forum where representatives from all member countries, the governing council and the general secretariat met with representatives from the financial partners.
Major results to be highlighted are as follows:
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Working out the terms of reference jointly proved to very important for kick-starting the evaluation process in the right way. It actually built up confidence and made all concerns meaningless that MISEREOR eventually would opt for a top down style evaluation. It is MISEREOR’s policy to adopt a collaborative approach in evaluation.
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The national teams seized the opportunity to evaluate their activities and to reflect on what can be improved in the future work. They appreciated the methodology of an assisted self evaluation and accepted the responsibility they had to take for evaluating their own activities instead of waiting for the outsider to tell them what was good and what was bad.
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The national teams made use of the resources of the evaluators, i.e. being able to take a fresh look from outside thus putting them in the position to draw attention to critical issues being not properly addressed, for one reason or the other, within the national teams.
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The process design was appropriate as the forum, being the major final step in the process, proved to be very useful in terms of getting a common understanding on the lessons to be learnt, on the need of change as well as the necessary steps to bring about that change. The composition of the forum really made sense, especially the participation of the national directors and presidents from all member countries. Having the opportunity of dialogue with the representatives of INADES-Formation’s funding partners also was very much appreciated.
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There is sufficient evidence that the guided self evaluation process triggered very positive results as the agenda for change, being agreed on at the occasion of the final forum, was really implemented. One of the major changes to be pushed forward implied strengthening the decentralisation process within the network. This mainly concerned ways and means of cooperation between the general secretariat and the national offices and associations.
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Partners |
African Institute for Economic and Social Development – African Training Centre, (INADES-Formation). INADES-Formation’s national associations and offices in Burkina Faso, Burundi and Tanzania. |
Funding Organisation |
MISEREOR (Germany) |
PICOTEAM members involved |
Dr. Thomas Schwedersky |
Links / Publications |
http://www.inadesfo.net/
http://www.misereor.de/
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