A group of 43 BOET representatives from Nghe An, Thai Nguyen and Quang Ninh province attended an M&E workshop on February 10-11, 2012 (on February 16-17, another group of 32 from Quang Nam and Quang Ngai province attended a similar workshop). This training is in line with the practice of M&E activities of DOETs.The workshop objectives are reflecting / sharing M&E of 2011, reflecting on roles and responsibilities of the core M&E group, improving M&E in 2012 and 2013, revising M&E tools, introducing ICT tools for M&E, and in general increasing capacity of the M&E core group.
The participants started by reflecting on their M&E activities, they shared good practices and challenges and discussed ways to improve the M&E. Difficulties emphasized were time limitation, insufficient knowledge/skills of M&E and insufficient awareness of roles and responsibilities.The workshop was a good opportunity to redefine and clarify roles and responsibilities.
Several M&E tools were tested and used last year in multiplication workshops (ICT 4 ATL, Facilitation Skills and Peer Coaching, and Lower Secondary School Principals with the management of Life Values-Life Skills and Effective Communication). During this workshop the participants reviewed these tools.
On the second day, participants were introduced to the use of Excel to process data and the use of Google Forms to at the same time obtain and process data. The participants were enthusiastic about these new tools: they should make the M&E task easier and more effective, and many participants indicated these tools will be useful not only in M&E of VVOB-related activities but also for their other work.
A very hands on conclusion was that for 2012, the revised M&E tools will be used regularly for all the multiplication workshops. Besides, in certain districts, an online questionnaire will be used for each topic to get more in-depth information of the trainings and their impacts.
