Smart Toolkit for evaluating information projects, products and services

Smart Toolkit training, strengthening capacities, promoting learning

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is holding its third RUFORUM Biennial Conference 24–28 September, 2012 in Entebbe, Uganda in conjunction with the RUFORUM Annual General Meeting. The main theme of the Conference is “Agricultural Research for Africa’s Development: Strengthening Innovation Capacity, Adaptiveness & Responsiveness for Improved Livelihoods”. The event includes a scientific Conference with research papers presented by staff and students of their member universities, research projects they have funded through grants and partner organisations. This year they have also invited representation from India, Brazil and China to their meeting. Approximately 300 participants are expected to attend the meeting.

CTA will be hosting two side-events:

1. Scientific writing, communication and influencing policy  for semi-finalists of the 3rd Africa-wide Women and Young Professionals in the Science competition "Feeding one billion in a changing world" in collaboration with its partners FARA, IFS, ANAFE, RUFORUM, NEPAD and AGRA
2. Information and Knowledge for Development (InK4Dev) component, which will  consist of three parallel sessions, namely:

• Training of Trainers (ToT) on Monitoring and Evaluation of Information Projects, Products and Services, using the Smart Toolkit as reference material. Discussions will also be held on best approaches to making use of the reference manual and community involvement (e.g. Wiki of Smart Toolkit to be updated by the community)
• ToT on ICM Strategy development at ARD institutions. Discussions will also be held on best approaches to making use of the manuals (Wiki of manuals for flexible updating)
• Sensitisation on the use of ICT tools for agricultural research techniques and information sharing. Sessions will include practical sessions on approaches like the Visual Problem Appraisal applied to qualitative research, Web2.0 tools for information sharing, online collaboration and community building.

Organisation of the Ink4Dev Week:

Scheduling:

Participants participating in the side-events will also be expected to attend key plenary sessions of the Conference.

ToT on Monitoring and Evaluation of Information Projects, Products and Services

The course is specifically aimed at enabling information specialists to evaluate their information projects, products and services through the use of the Smart Toolkit for Evaluating Information Projects, Products and Services and related resources. It is envisaged that the training will empower the participants to better manage their information projects, products and services and to promote M&E practice among their colleagues in their respective organisations. Participants will be drawn from regional and governmental organisations, and non-governmental organisations in Eastern and Southern Africa.

We are also happy to announce that Richard Lamptey, a former Smart Toolkit trainee, has joined our team and will act as one of the resource persons at the workshop. The ToT workshop is the second of its kind– the first one was held in Fiji in February of this year in response to a formal request from the regional organisation the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to strengthen the capacity of their information professionals in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of information projects, products and services.

As part of the workshop activities, efforts will be made to strengthen and expand the Smart Toolkit Community and encourage the sharing of M&E experiences. In addition to this, there will also be a discussion on how to get the Community more involved in facilitating further development of the Toolkit and its resources.

We certainly hope that the participants attending this workshop will be just as inspired as past participants to share what they have learnt with their colleagues as well as contribute their experiences to the Community.

A detailed description of the course is attached.