AfCoP is very active in the International MfDR

Report on the three workshops: Paris-Washington-Tunis

OECD/DAC Evaluation Network Meeting, June 14-15, 2009 OECD, Paris, France

They have invited me to represent the African Community of Practice and my country, Ethiopia and present them the AfCoP’s work on M&E capacity development work in the community and also briefed them about what AfCoP is. Besides, I did present the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) activities in the Ethiopian Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. And it was a very fruitful and engaging session that we had during my presentation’s session. Many have given their support to the community and they have stressed that one of the clear messages that came out of the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Accra, Ghana, in September 2008, is to engage and work with the community of practices on MfDR. So they are very ready to work with the AfCoP on our common agendas and move forward together to achieve better results. The Director of the Network, Mr. Hans Lundgren, expressed his delight to work with us and to collaborate on our efforts.

“It was our pleasure to host you at the Network meeting, and I think members found your presentation very relevant. There is consensus on the importance of supporting partners to strengthen country M&E, and other learning and accountability, systems, and there seems to be energy for moving this agenda forward.”
..... Megan Grace Kennedy, Consultant, Network on Development Evaluation (DCD/PEER)

It is high time to collaborate with such networks as we have said in our work plan that we need to participate on Joint Evaluation and related analytical works of the OECD/DAC. I believe many will work with us and share their work experience on M&E on their respective agencies and hence help AfCoP members and countries how to align with them.

World Bank Institute Forum on “Improving the Results of Learning for Capacity Building” June 17-19, 2009 World Bank Headquarters, Washington DC, USA

The AfCoP Secretariat invited me to represent the community in this learning forum. The organizers asked me to present them on two agendas: (a) Partner work on Results: Seizing opportunities to work together towards results, and (b) Consultations on Joint Learning. The Washington meeting was a very good opportunity to link up with many learning institutions and capacity development networks. Besides, it created the opportunity and we made our presence felt. And at the second day of the meeting, as an AfCoP member working on Knowledge sharing and knowledge development through the platform, I shared my experience and suggested which could be the best way to address the learning needs of countries without undermining the ongoing initiatives and efforts by the countries themselves. After all that is what the Paris Declaration is all about.

The meeting also offered the opportunity to recruit some new members who are interested on what we are doing and they offered the opportunity to link up with them on our common agendas. Some were interested to know how they can work and in what specific areas they can contribute and engage us. Some promising works are coming up and many wanted to work with us. And we need to use this opportunity to further strength our members’ Capacity, if we ever get the opportunity, and make ourselves available and appealing. And the WBI (Jenny Gold, Program Officer and Samuel Otto, Adviser to the Vice President World Bank Institute, the World Bank) invited me to be part of their network on learning for capacity development and continue contributing on their work. I think this is also a good opportunity for us to make our presence felt in the learning for development community and in the continent as now it is very clear that our membership list is growing. Besides, it was also a good opportunity for us to meet some representatives from the Latin American and Caribbean CoP MfDR to build and strengthen the regional partnership we have with them.

“I believe that it was an important event for us. Tamirat presented an excellent overview of the African COP work and throughout the two and a half days we spend together we found several scenarios were we could and will cooperate in the future.”
...........................Philipp Schonrock, CoP LAC- MfDR representative

Training on “Designing Results Based Country Strategy Papers” June 29-July 3, 2009 African Development Bank, Joint African Institute, Tunis, Tunisia

This invitation came when I was in Paris and Mr Mohammed Manai, Division Manager, OPEV.1, offered the opportunity to be part of the trainees and present the AfCoP so that the MfDR agenda gets through the participants and spread the word to their colleagues back at home. This one is very different from the other two workshops that I have attended and represent the AfCoP and Ethiopia as well, because it was basically for African public/civil service sector experts and that is where our main focus is as far as the AfCoP is concerned. And it has brought us the new members to be added to the country list, the three new countries: Eritrea, Sao Tome and Principe and DRC, Brazzaville. The participants had followed the presentation very attentively and they were so interested to see how they can benefit from the community. We have got around 20 new members from the meeting who showed great interest to be part of the community. Mr. Manai reaffirmed their interest (his department and the AfDB) to work with the AfCoP and in the future they will try to invite more members from the Community to get capacity development training on M&E, Results based management and related courses.

“I appreciated very much your contribution to the event by sensitizing colleagues from other countries to join the AfCoP”
.......... Mohamed H. Manaï, Division Manager, OPEV.1, AfDB

In summary, the three workshops and training that I have participated and represented the AfCoP and my country, they were so successful and brought the AfCoP the opportunity to link up to other networks, regional CoPs (LAC CoP-MfDR) and work in collaboration with institutions and organizations. New members have been recruited and hopefully they will be part of the team soon. From my own point of view and interest, these travels have given me the opportunity to learn and share my experience in the AfCoP and in my country, Ethiopia. I know that it has given me the opportunity also to express myself and get the exposure and impetus to work more, devote my time and be very much creative on this agenda-MfDR and the work I pursue in the AfCoP.

I enjoy very much working for the AfCoP and it helps me to develop and progress on the path I am following on my career development.

Be Champions!

Tamirat Yacob,(Ethiopia)

African Community of Practice on MfDR (AfCoP-MfDR),
Monitoring and Evaluation Core Managment Team