Monitoring & Evaluation for Agriculture & Rural Development

Course Description

This 5-day course equips participants with essential skills to design and implement effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for agriculture and rural development projects. Participants will learn key M&E concepts, frameworks, and tools specific to the agricultural sector, enabling them to track project progress, measure impact, and make data-driven decisions.

Learning Objectives

• Design comprehensive M&E frameworks for agriculture and rural development projects
• Develop appropriate indicators to measure project performance and impact
• Apply data collection and analysis techniques for agricultural M&E
• Integrate gender considerations into M&E systems
• Conduct impact evaluations of agriculture and rural development programs

Course Modules

Day 1: Introduction to M&E for Agriculture and Rural Development

• M&E concepts and principles in agricultural context
• The project cycle and M&E
• Key challenges in agricultural M&E
• M&E frameworks for agriculture and rural development

Day 2: Designing M&E Systems

• Logical Framework Analysis for agricultural projects
• Developing result chains and theories of change
• Selecting appropriate indicators for agriculture and rural development
• Creating M&E plans and budgets

Day 3: Data Collection and Management

• Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods
• Participatory M&E approaches in rural settings
• Data quality assurance in agricultural projects
• Data management and analysis for agricultural M&E

Day 4: Evaluating Agricultural and Rural Development Projects

• Types of evaluations in agriculture and rural development
• Designing impact evaluations for agricultural interventions
• Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis
• Communicating and using evaluation findings

Day 5: Cross-cutting Issues and Practical Application

• Integrating gender and social inclusion in agricultural M&E
• Climate-smart agriculture and M&E
• Technology and innovation in agricultural M&E
• Case studies and group exercises

Practical Wins for Participants

• Ability to design tailored M&E frameworks for agriculture projects
• Skills to develop and track meaningful indicators for rural development
• Techniques for effective data collection and analysis in rural settings
• Strategies to conduct impactful evaluations of agricultural interventions