Objectives
Home Contents Introduction Opening Remarks Objectives Introduction to NPMS CSOs/Govt Partnership Poverty Assesment Day One Recap Research Methodologies Monitoring Technique Cross-cutting isssues S E Database Role of CSOs in PRSP Lobbying & Advocacy Monitoring Strategy Lesson Learned Closing Remarks

 

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Objectives of the workshop

The national monitoring skills workshop for civil society organisations organised by TCDD had the following specific objectives:

bulletProvide update information to civil society participants on the current country situation with regard to poverty and PRSP including the national institutional framework for the Poverty Monitoring System.
bullet· Expose CSOs to basic concepts on poverty and PRSP, international debt issues and current macro-economic frameworks (TAS/PRSP etc.)
bullet· Equip participants with skills and methods of monitoring poverty/PRSP at the community, district and national levels.
bullet· Introduce CSOs to the techniques and skills for effective lobbying and advocacy.
bullet· Agree on engagement strategies, and clear time bound benchmarks and action points for CSOs participation in monitoring poverty and PRSP at the community, district and national levels.

3.1 Expectations of the Participants

Participating Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) were asked to list down at least one expectation that they immediately got when they received an invitation to attend a civil society workshop on monitoring poverty and the PRSP.  The objective of the exercise was to assess the needs and aspirations of civil society organisation around the area of poverty/PRSP implementation monitoring.  The exercise also provides baseline information on knowledge, attitude and practice of civil society experience/engagement in monitoring policy implementation.

Here under are participant’s expectations:

bulletTo learn and share the experience on PRSP, and other structural barriers towards PRSP implementation process
bulletTo come up with common understanding on strategies to monitor poverty and PRSP
bulletExposed to up to date data on poverty and poverty situation in the country as well as definition of poverty
bulletTo educate NGOs/grassroots people about PRSP/Monitoring system. Some participants did not know how monitoring is carried out so they expected to learn this in this workshop and go back in their districts well equipped ready for monitoring work. Moreover, others were expecting to hear what benefits PRSP has to people and what are benefits of/for CSOs engagement in monitoring poverty and PRSP
bulletApart from learning how monitoring is done, they were also expecting to learn some techniques i.e. lobbying, advocacy in order to be able to use them to influence government policies and decisions.
bulletCauses of debts was another area where participants were looking forward to be able to learn a lot and even come up with suggestions on how the country would avoid to enter into more debts in the future
bulletExposed to Poverty Participatory Appraisal  (PPA) tools, because the main objective of the workshop was monitoring poverty and PRSP. PPAs were seen as a starting point towards the long journey of monitoring. They also expected to learn how to value experiences of grassroots CSOs/NGOs.
bulletIdentify strengths and weaknesses of PRSP, participants expected to use this workshop to identify some strengths and weaknesses in PRSP and to improve the process by addressing those weaknesses.
bulletMainstreaming of burning issues like Gender and HIV/AIDS in the monitoring of PRSP were also raised as one of expectations.
bulletTo other participants this was prime time to start networking with other actors/CSOs  (TCDD members) engaged in monitoring poverty and PRSP, at the same time to get the profile of CSOs engaged PRSP.
 

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