Philip Dearden has delivered a further Project and Programme Thinking Tools training workshop in Ankara Turkey for the FAO Turkey Programme for staff of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
Workshop Objectives
The five day workshops focused on the variety of project and programme thinking tools that can be applied in project management work or in wider on-going programmes. The objectives agreed with FAO were that, by the end of the workshop, participants would be able to:
- use a variety of Project and Programme thinking tools
- appreciate the phases of the project and programme cycle
- develop a logical results framework
- use a logical results framework in design and implementation
- improve the use of the logical results framework as a monitoring, review and evaluation tool.
- Develop practical Terms of Reference for their Project consultants
- Critically examine issues of project and programme sustainability
Feedback
Overall the workshop was very well received with all aspects of the workshop being rated highly. Many participants reporting that they had both enjoyed the workshop and learned a lot of practical useful information and new project and programme management skills.
Background
The Government of Turkey, represented by the Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MFAL), Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs (MFWA), and FAO concluded in 2014 a new partnership agreements whereby an FAO/Turkey Partnership Programme (FTPP) and an FAO/Turkey Forestry Programme (FTFP) were set up for the benefit of the countries covered by the FAO Sub-regional Office for Central Asia (FAO/SEC) based in Ankara.
The primary objective of the FTPP/FTFP is to provide a substantive financial and operational framework for active cooperation in the areas of food security, rural poverty reduction, forestry development and sustainable natural resources management in the Central Asian countries.
The FTPP/FTFP are demand-driven, as much as it responds to the priority problems identifying by national and/or sub-regional stakeholders and is expressed in the form of official requests. National ownership of all FTPP/FTFP programmes and projects approved and implemented in each beneficiary country will be ensured by concerned governments driving the process of integration of the FTPP/FTFP support within national development strategies and programmes.
Workshop Opening
The Programme was opened by Mr Ahmet Volkan Gungoren, Head of Department of International Organisations, D6 of EU and Foreign Relations (MFAL) and the FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative in Turkey.
In the opening speech the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock staff and FAOSEC partnership was welcomed with excitement and the strong belief that it will strengthen collaboration to fight against hunger by supporting sustainable agriculture and sustainable use of natural resources, not only in Turkey but in the entire region as well.
It was strongly noted that in order to establish an effective partnership, it is strategic that the necessary programme management capacities should be developed in the Ministry through various training programmes.
It was further noted that this training programme on ‘’Project formulation, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation (Project Cycle Management, PCM)’’ aims to provide a package of information comprising a step-wise progressive approach to create permanent capacities in the country and specific advice to address emerging issues, of operational nature, during the implementation of the new cycle of FTPP/FTFP. The training programme would be crucial for enhancing the capacity of relevant Government staff assigned to implementing the FTPP and FTFP on FAO Project Cycle Management.
It was also noted that through implementation of this capacity development programme for Ministry personnel, there is a clear aim to facilitate smooth implementation of the programme. This training programme will provide a certain capacity for success implementation of multi-country and regional projects that will ensure the improvement of the Ministry’s capacity in international environment including programme and project development and implementation.
