In January 2016, Philip N. Dearden (Head of CIDT) led a three-day Strategic Planning and Programme Design training and an associated three-day Training of Trainers/Facilitators workshop for the eight (8) key trainers of the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In turn, these eight trainers will be training about 66 selected candidates to become “Certified Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE) Facilitators.” These PCE Facilitators will be charged with facilitating the use of the PCE tool to allow countries to self-assess their capacity to implement the Convention and apply International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs); they will then use the information obtained from the capacity assessments to facilitate the development of multi-year Strategic Plans, using the Logical Framework Approach and a range of RBM tools such as stakeholder analysis, strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis, risk management, and more.
Prior to the workshop, the participants completed CIDT’s on-line course on Results-Based Management (RBM) and the Logical Framework Approach (LFA).. This got them familiar with the fundamental concepts, tools and processes involved in developing a logical framework for a specific project and/or programme, and it ensured that they arrived at the face-to-face workshop on Day One with a common understanding. View details of this course.
A handbook on Strategic Planning and Programme Design was developed by Kimberly Ross (Senior Consultant/Senior Lecturer at CIDT) for specific use at the workshop. This handbook covered the strategic planning process used by the IPPC, and involved seven (7) simple steps for developing a project/programme using the LFA. Training manuals on the development of training courses and individual training sessions were also provided. These were all well received and found to be very useful by participants.
Evaluation feedback on the on-line course was very positive, with most participants reporting that they were fully engaged in the on-line process and had learned a lot of practical, useful information and new skills. For many, the concepts surrounding the Logical Framework and its use in the Strategic Planning Process had been demystified in a practical and useful manner.
Evaluation feedback on the six days of the face-to-face workshop (Strategic Planning/LFA + TOT) was also very positive. Many participants had increased their confidence in being able to train others. Participants reiterated that they found the handbooks and training materials developed for the workshop to be very useful.
Participant’s comments on the programme included:
- The workshop was very motivating and useful not only for the specific project of training facilitators, but for other events in our working places/organisations.
- Great course to open up possible approaches to facilitate teaching – learning effectiveness. Bringing together the PCE approach – results and processes very necessary and well demonstrated/taught
- The rapport with the facilitator built and increased over the days and this was lovely.
- The facilitator handled the subject matter with authority and mastery
- Overall excellent and very engaging techniques
- The facilitator was very knowledgeable and concrete in learning techniques as well as conducting the audience
- Excellent and driven by experience
Photos from the workshop
Participants planning and developing the project/programme tools in a hands-on practical manner.
Experiential learning – Group dynamics and team work.
