Part I.

Objective and rationale

High-quality training is fundamental to the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) mission, “to support effective and innovative global health research, through strengthening the research capacity of disease-affected countries, and promoting the translation of evidence into interventions that reduce the burden of infectious diseases and build resilience in the most vulnerable populations.” Although some research capacity building activities take place within academic institutions that may have monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place, there is a valuable and significant amount of training that is peer-to-peer, or that takes place outside of an academic setting. The M&E workshop presented in this Toolkit is intended to provide tools to trainers to help them evaluate and improve their research capacity building activities, which are of enormous importance and value to the scientific community.

Objective of the M&E workshop

The objective of this workshop is to increase the capacity of scientists to integrate M&E frameworks with their research capacity building activities.

Learning objectives

There are two principal learning objectives for the workshop. By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

1. Apply relevant terminology and concepts to describe, discuss, and analyze M&E frameworks and findings; and

2. Generate and implement M&E frameworks for research capacity building activities.

In addition, there are specific learning objectives defined for each of the five sessions designated for the face-to-face training, which appear in the relevant sections of this guide.

Intended participants and beneficiaries

For the most part, we expect participants in the workshop to be scientists who, either as part of their regular work or sporadically, offer trainings that focus on building research capacity, either within their own research institutions, or in the broader scientific community. This type of peer-led training is essential to developing research competencies for participants and leadership skills for facilitators, as well as more generally strengthening networks and collaborations. Implementing a monitoring and evaluation framework for these capacity building activities can help facilitators gain an understanding of the results they are generating and how to improve these results. The potential beneficiaries of this workshop are diverse and include the workshop participants themselves, their research institutions, and future participants in research capacity strengthening activities.

Expected outcomes

The workshop is a practical, hands-on experience, built around the development of an M&E Framework project that will require participants to use tools and acquire skills to monitor and evaluate a research capacity building activity. We expect that participants will leave this course with an M&E framework in hand and prepared to develop other frameworks to assure the quality of their trainings in the future. The workshop should also develop a general understanding of monitoring and evaluation as tools and approaches to maintain and improve effectiveness and efficiency and to gather and interpret data related to the outputs, outcomes, and impact of their work.

Toolkit materials

The Toolkit contains supporting materials for the participants and facilitators in the form of the Participant Guide and the Facilitator Guide, as well as five slide presentations. However, our expectation is that this workshop will be based around the needs and projects of the participants, as well as the professional experiences of the facilitators. The Toolkit should serve as a guide and a support, to be used together with the slide presentations. During the first block of the course, participants will submit a Pre-Workshop Questionnaire and their M&E Framework project proposals. This should give you a good sense of what the interests, needs, and experiences of the group are, and give you time to appropriately adjust the face-to-face training.

Participant Guide

The Participant Guide includes an overview of the course, in terms of logistics and content, as well as a summary of the main points raised during the face-to-face training. It also includes an initial self-assessment in the form of a brief case study, and general guidelines and advice for organising the Final M&E Framework project, including an explanation of the rubric. Facilitators should be familiar with the content of this workbook, as it contains content notes and extended examples from the M&E case study.

Slide presentations

Slide presentations are included here for the face-to-face training. The slides include notes in the form of a “script” for the facilitator, but we strongly encourage you to modify these according to your experience and the needs of the group. The presentations and group discussions will work best when it is put in context with real-life examples that you, and the participants, can provide.

Templates and in-class exercises

Since much of the face-to-face training is devoted to working through the M&E frameworks in large groups, small groups, and individually, we also include a range of templates and in-class exercises designed to facilitate this collaborative and interactive process. However, you do not need to feel tied to these specific tools. If you find that another approach works best in your context, please adapt, or modify these materials as needed or substitute ones that you find more appropriate. The key to these in-class exercises is collaborative, peer learning.

Facilitator Guide

The rest of this guide, the Facilitator Guide, is devoted to the following:

Planning and organising the workshop

• Designing the workshop structure, timeline, and content

• Selecting participants and other facilitators and staff

• Planning for the workshop

• Key teaching / learning considerations

• The final M&E Framework Project

• Evaluating this workshop

Facilitating Block One – distance learning and teaching

Facilitating Block Two – the face-to-face workshop

• Learning methodology and the M&E Frameworks Project