An important sub-regional training meeting on piloting, communication and leadership of the nationwide monitoring and evaluation platform took place in Brazzaville from May 12 to 16, 2014. The meeting was held under the aegis of COMIFAC and co-funded by partners such as the GFA/GIZ COMIFAC support project, the MSP/WB, and PACEBCo projects. The overall objective of the key gathering was to strengthen various member countries’ capacities in the discharge of their missions, including communication, leadership of national stakeholders and activities related to monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the Convergence Plan at national level.

 
The workshop comes on the heels of a self-assessment conducted by CNC officials which has highlighted two main priority areas for capacity-building which in turn are fanned out into eight principal activities of the CNCs as described in their mission statement.  The results of the study revealed that capacity building needs were more acutely felt in the areas of technical know-how and preparedness, hence the need for the COMIFAC National Coordinators and their assistants (two participants per country) to take part  in the workshop, as well as experts from the Executive Secretariat of COMIFAC.

 
 In a bid to achieve the workshop objectives, the meeting was segmented into four main parts: implementation of activities to be conducted in the areas of communication and national ownership of the Convergence Plan, basics on leadership of the Platform for monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the Convergence Plan, developing tools and leader- coach techniques to lead the process of ownership of implementation of the Convergence Plan at national level and monitoring and reporting on implementation of the CNC AWP 2014.

 
During the three-day workshop, participants were able to define the main activities to be undertaken, develop communication skills and strengthen their capacities to steer the process of ownership of the Convergence Plan at national level, in collaboration with the network of communications officials from the Ministries of Forestry and Environment currently being established. The meeting also provided an opportunity for them to develop basic leadership skills with a view to piloting the platform (database) for monitoring and evaluation of the convergence plan, as well as developing some technical facilitation and coaching abilities to gather mid-term progress reports on the implementation of their respective AWPs 2014.

 
At the end of the workshop, participants made a point of expressing their delight in having their capacities strengthened and voiced their wish to play an active role in translating all the lessons learned into action.

 
More information on the conduct of the workshop will be provided in an upcoming report.

 Image credits: COMIFAC