My main role at Bhageerath is monitoring and evaluating its
projects and training the staff in monitoring and evaluation. Initially this
project proved to be very promising—I had a lot of support from a key staff
member, plenty of interesting projects to delve into, and a sense that I could
make a real contribution.
Several months and numerous challenges later, I am much less
optimistic. I have faced several key challenges. The first is that I’m not
convinced that monitoring and evaluation was one of Bhageerath’s top priorities
from the beginning. The second is that if monitoring and evaluation is a top
priority, the senior management has not communicated its importance to project
staff. As a result, the project is seen as my work rather than Bhageerath’s and
therefore other projects are consistently more highly prioritized.
Despite these challenges, I have made several key
achievements:
- I have fully
developed a training strategy and completed about half of all training
materials
- I developed and
completed project questionnaires through field visits, staff interviews, and
meeting with beneficiaries
- Through my
initial trainings, I have facilitated the staff in using a more
results-oriented approach when planning their projects.
Although I am much less optimistic, my dedication has remained
the same. This has meant reevaluating my original goals and project plan so
that now I will evaluate 2 of Bhageerath’s programs, create monitoring systems
for 2 of Bhageerath’s programs, and fully train 1 key staff member in
monitoring and evaluation. I am determined to achieve this by the end of the
fellowship.
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