AG-Scan Workshop in Rwanda

20-21 August 2019

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An AVANTI AG-Scan workshop was held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 20-22 August 2019. The workshop was designed to assess monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) capacity in the agricultural sector in Rwanda, within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Rwanda has just completed its first Voluntary National Review of progress towards selected SDGs so the timing of the workshop was highly relevant as participants were able to reflect on that experience to identify areas for improvement in MEL. Rwanda has also recently launched its latest Strategic Plan for Agriculture – PSTA 4 – and is focused on improving its MEL system for the delivery of the plan and its linkages with national and international objectives.

The workshop brought together 19 participants from a range of institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and its affiliated agencies, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the National Institute of Statistics Rwanda, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The self-assessment was followed by a day of action planning by participants, which produced a priority list of specific actions for improvement.

Rwanda has a highly developed approach to many aspects of MEL, and it is intended that the Rwanda AG-Scan will provide useful lessons for other countries.

The workshop was facilitated by Itad, with support from Helvetas and IFAD.

Participants said of their Ag-Scan workshop experience:

“It has provided us with an opportunity to look at the M&E system with a wider/fresh perspective…[it] also helped to assess existing gaps.”

“I got to know the word learning… I used to know only M&E and not dedicate time to lessons learnt – which I can now see is important in terms of effective M&E.”

“I like the methodology of the workshop: how ideas were collected from participants; how MEL theories were shared with participants.”

Photos

Rwanda AG-Scan participants