DATE: 23 26 AUGUST, 2011

VENUE: OSIWA, DAKAR, SENEGAL.

BY FRANCK ARTHUR SOMBO

Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

Evaluation Questionnaire Compiled Introduction A Specialized Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors held in Dakar - Senegal, OSIWA Conference Room from 23rd-26th of August, 2011. This Training was organized by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI). The main goal of the workshop was to build the advocacy capacity of Civil Society Actors in Senegal, and deepen their knowledge and skills in planning and conducting effective policy engagement, influencing and advocacy. The workshop was structured around three thematic areas: understanding the context of policy advocacy and writing; structuring and developing a coherent public policy paper; and developing a targeted Advocacy Planning Framework. This report exposes the participants assessment of the organization and delivery of the workshop. Section One I: Overall Course Delivery Table 1.0
Areas of Assessment What is your overall impression of the workshop? Were your objectives for this workshop met? Rate your satisfaction with the course training materials Taking into account your knowledge of Results-Based Management before the workshop, did the workshop help to build your knowledge and skills in this area? How effective was The Discussions the methodology used in the The Exercises workshop? Percentage Rating Outcomes of Participants Very Satisfied 70% 55% 60% 72% Satisfied 30% 45% 40% 28% Not Satisfied

85% 67%

15% 33%

Total number of respondents was 20. The percentage ratings of the participants responses were calculated based on the total number of responses to each question.
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

II: Participants Response to Rating 1. Overall impression of the workshop The following represents a summary of participants responses to the ratings outlined in table above. The participants impression about the workshop is documented below: 2. Instructive, the Training helped us better understand advocacy elements; Very interesting due to the Trainers dynamism and complicity; Satisfactory, dynamic of the group was good; The Training thematic was pertinent; The workshop was full of teachings and the gains were reinforced through experience sharing; Learnt how to conduct an advocacy; Training workshop was satisfactory; The theme was well chosen and adjusted to the current context of civil society emergence; Better understanding of advocacy, and tools to do active advocacy; Gained much knowledge at the training; Comprehensive, and tackled projects management in totality; Facilitation was satisfactory, the tools interesting and the facilities attractive; The Training came up at the best time and the methodology was accessible; The theme was interesting, we also had a good complicity with Facilitators and WACSI team was dynamic; The content of the materials was up to date and the facilitation was good particularly with the use of the real life illustrations; and Benefited immensely from participating to the training;

Objectives for the workshop Below is a summary of responses to the percentage ratings on whether the participants expectations were met: Globally yes; The concepts of Policy study and Policy analysis in any context, format and methodology was mastered; Substantially; Gain a good knowledge of Public Policy and Advocacy New things learnt, thus increased knowledge New ideas learnt;
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

3.

Policy paper writing skills have been developed; More practical exercises; Objectives were completely met; Understood advocacy context and its writing, learned how to structure and develop a coherent advocacy paper; Improved knowledge in advocacy context; Capacity have been reinforced in advocacy and networking alliances have been strengthened; Ability and capacity to lead advocacy programme within my organisation and coalition; Advocacy concept has been unfolded; Training workshop exceeded my expectations; Set objectives were attained.

Level of Satisfaction with the Course Training materials The participants responses to the above question include: The training materials have fallen short; The materials were adapted and easy to use for practical exercises; Good; Accessible and clear; The manual is very clear and explicit, but it could be accompanied by a collection of documents; All the materials used are good; Satisfactory enough; The manual is very complete; Necessary materials were used for the Training; The materials were relevant and adapted; Because the materials took heed of all the workshop activities; The materials were effective for all session; Acceptable; The manual is rich in term of content, but could be more detailed on certain topics; The training materials will help plan for future actions; The case studies should be local content (the case for Lithuania is far away from us); The training contents were varied and relevant;
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

The documents were well developed and elaborated.

4.

Did the workshop help build on your knowledge and skills in this area? Participants acknowledged the relevance of the workshop and indicated how beneficial it was in terms of knowledge acquisition and skills enhancement. Below are a summary of their responses: New vision of policy advocacy, better understanding of concepts and mastering of paper development technics; Certain elements were detailed, what was not the case for all; This Workshop helped reinforced capacities in policy advocacy and better understanding of concepts in this area; It helped improve the conceptual level of the thematic areas; Policy paper writing skills strengthened; To better use the different steps of advocacy and avoid disorder; This workshop reinforced knowledge in advocacy, helped reorganize, restructure and correct wrong notions; Learnt about policy advocacy in its entirety; Advocacy skills were built; All sessions of the Workshop increased knowledge; Better understanding of Advocacy Planning Framework (APF); This Workshop is of relevance thus creating a new vision into advocacy; Training was effective in its methodological approach to conduct an Advocacy activity as well as experience sharing; During the workshop, the difference between policy study and policy analysis was well explained; The Training completely matched capacity buildings; Training elaborated the prerequisite for a successful Advocacy programme, measures to be taken; On Advocacy paper designing; Past Advocacy initiatives were undertaken alongside other projects, but from now it is clear that the focus will be on public and social policies; Especially in the procedure, the most of our Advocacy actions were so far limited to paper designing, now a new step begins; The training workshop was technical and accommodating.

5.

How effective was the methodology used?

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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

The workshop employed theoretical and practical delivery approaches. In the assessment the participants indicated that: I: Discussions Interactive; Participative and andragogical, hence effectiveness of the methodology; The methodology was effective and adequate; but it is not so easy from participants perspectives because of talk monopolization and ideas confrontation; Very dynamic; Participative technics used helped the participants to better find themselves involved into the discussions; It helped me identified participants competencies and expertise; Participative approach very interesting; Very educational and funny; Lively and relevant discussions based on participative approach; Effective; Innovative, the methodology was unusual and saved time; Perfect, the methodology will serve us ourselves; Discussions enrich and fix gained knowledge; The methodology used encouraged active participation and the co-facilitating showed good complicity in trainers intervention; Methodology got everybody involved; The experience sharing sessions were educative; Excellent; Enriching and very lovely discussions.

II: The Practical Sessions Participative and dynamic; Exercises with sentences and words: easy to understand and participative approach - brainstorming; Very satisfactory; Facilitators available for exchanges; Practical exercises helped to better recap on theories; Participants competencies and expertise were identified; Practical sessions showed reality of advocacy; Sessions were educative and interactive;
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

Group work and relevant examples; Yes; Fast understanding; Perfect, the methodology will serve us ourselves; Theoretical knowledge was put into practice; Illustrations were explanatory and accessible; The methodology involved active participation of all participants; Practical sessions allowed for knowledge learnt to be tested; Good; Very participatory and accessible; Session Two Course Content

How effective were the workshop components (listed in the box) in building your knowledge and skills. Table 1.1
Percentage Rating Outcomes of Participants Very useful, am Satisfied with Not satisfied, very satisfied this topic, may may not be be useful useful 89% 11% -

Policy Advocacy

Session 1: Understanding the context of policy advocacy and writing Session 2: Structuring and developing a coherent policy paper Session 3: Developing a targeted advocacy plan using the Advocacy Planning Framework (APF)

75%

25%

75%

25%

What will you do differently in your policy planning/ practice following this Training? Initiate networking to work on issues but differently since the Training reinforced my interventions capabilities;
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

Improve and adjust policy planning and practice to the workshop standards; Follow the normal process beginning by problem identification; Developing advocacy paper based on analysis and policy study; Respect the whole process/ follow all the steps; Developing an advocacy plan policy analysis strategies of public policy development; Everything will be done differently due to new knowledge; Better planning and communication strategy; Everything but especially preparation and planning; Better target the messenger, seek for better understanding of target audience features; Capacity to deliver advocacy courses; Developing advocacy messages; Improve approach to achieving advocacy goals; The way of conducting Advocacy; The method to identifying policy community, targets and context; Advocacy paper writing especially designing, preparation, development and monitoring phases.

Session you consider as the Strength of the training APF (7); Session two; Structuring and developing a coherent advocacy paper (4); All sessions (2); Recap activities were very captivating and original, as well as energizing exercises which helped obtain participants attention; The practical exercises, especially the hot chair, were very interesting; Recap activities every start of the Training days (2); The strength is especially Advocacy cycle in public policy; Clap activities and sanctions for offense of the set rules. What you consider as the Training Weaknesses The fact of not giving definition of key concepts from the very beginning the fact for the Trainers to read support documents; The Muslim fasting period (7); Time duration does not allow to correctly do practices (9); Time allotted for experience sharing during discussions with the whole group (2);
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

The fact that each participant was not given the opportunity to present his/her organisation including their vision & mission; Content of case study not adjusted: Lithuania for instance; Slides not really explicit; Meals could have been cancelled and restituted as daily allowance instead;

Any recommendation for eventual improvement of next Advocacy Trainings Reconsider timing which was not flexible; Organise residential Trainings (3); Good training but the duration must be extended to seven (7) days; Avoid organising this kind of training during fasting period (3); Close the workshop with the participative designing of the training support document; Trainers must quote local examples and case studies from our context; Increase duration/number of days (5); Host people from outside the capital city, not all of them have relatives to stay with; There must be more exercises especially for APF and effective strategies and communication tools; Focus energizing activities at the start of sessions or around breaks; Share more experiences and advocacy practices, i.e. video, testimonies, etc; Present organisations from the beginning to help each better articulate their efforts knowing their common points with others; Work on case studies on host countries; Give more time for practical exercises; Adjust materials to participants needs; Other Topic/information you would suggest to include in this kind of Training Advocacy assessment strategies; Training of Trainers in this area; Stress on APF allotting more time; Gender and sustainable development; Gender; Concepts definition, not only list many definitions but agree consensually with the group on one definition; Habit and behaviours during delivery of the Advocacy message; Do a concrete exercise on Advocacy Training;
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Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

Networking, Negotiation, Leadership, Management, Projects designing and managing; Make neat difference between Lobbying and Advocacy; Develop a module on Lobbying and Networking; Better explain the role of the messenger and the content of the message, key for a successful advocacy; Networking, alliances building; Presentation of organisations, presentation of advocacy activities conducted by organisations; Communication for development; Persuasion strategies, all kinds possible of advocacy; First a glossary for key concepts definition and then adjustment of papers and policies according to the country; Women leadership reinforcement.

Write a sentence to describe what you learned Public policy is what government decides to do or not to do; How to advocate to contribute to the sustainable development of your country; Mastering of policy paper writing and concepts understanding; During this workshop I learned the process of policy paper formulation and advocacy principles; Concepts and development of public policy; Policy Advocacy is a process where all steps are important; What is Advocacy and how to successfully conduct it; Learned about the process of implementing advocacy programme; Extraordinary Training; An advocacy well planned and well organized is entailed to succeed and create social and political change; Learned how to find the entry points into the process to have better understanding and audience; Strategy of writing policy study and policy analysis paper was learned; Gained knowledge to easily develop an effective advocacy programme; Advocacy must be planned to reach targeted objectives; Concepts definition, policy community, policy study, policy analysis and how to advocate; The more difficult actually begins after designing your advocacy paper;

Specialised Training Workshop on Policy Advocacy and Engagement for Civil Society Actors in Senegal.

23-26 August, 2011 Evaluation Report

The relevance of reflection and adequate strategic approach to achieve set objectives; Learned Advocacy from Public Policys perspective. Very interesting; How to advocate.

Advice for the training team Be precise on the use of concepts so as not to create confusion for participants; Not to undertake this Training in fasting period (10); Make it residential; Provide participants with the Training agenda; Care of partners organisations from other regions of the country to be allowed to such Trainings and be in good conditions; Be more open to participants needs; Increase the number of days (2); Multiply opportunities for practical experience sharing on advocacy, develop a postworkshop monitoring planning for participants to monitor the outcomes of the Training; Better involve the participants for next Trainings; Accommodate participants from outside the capital city; Keep the same flexibility in facilitation, choose experienced people for the targeted topic as it has been done here; Establish list for meals and ask whether they are people with some allergy;

Assess duration of the course in Percentages Table 1.2 Too long Too short 18% About right 82%

82% of respondents thought that the time allotted for the Training was about right while 18% stated that it was too short.

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