Parliamentary Capacity Building Workshop 29-31 May 2025 Cape Town

Parliamentary Capacity Building Workshop, 29-31 May 2025, Cape Town

Twende Mbele in collaboration with DPME, South Africa, organised a 3-day capacity building workshop to bolster and augment existing M&E capacities among Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliamentary researcher departments of Twende Mbele partner countries. This workshop aims to foster champions and cultivate an appreciation of the value of M&E evidence in informing public-sector planning, policymaking, and budgeting. The forum is part of Twende’s 2024-2026 approved work plan aimed at enhancing and advancing parliamentary oversight leveraging M&E. The interactive event was co-facilitated in English and French. PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP The purpose of the 3-day capacity building workshop was to build and augment existing M&E capacities among Members of Parliament (MPs) and Parliament Researchers of Twende Mbele member countries: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, South Africa and Uganda. This capacity building workshop aimed to foster champions and cultivate an appreciation of the value of M&E information in informing public sector planning, policymaking, budgeting and implementation processes. The workshop continued the Twende Mbele’s mission of improving oversight through M&E. The workshop was co-facilitated in English and French, and was interactive, bridging the gap between M&E theory and its practical application in the oversight functions of parliament. The aim of the capacity building and peer-learning by Parliamentarians workshop was to:

• strengthen the demand for and use of evaluations among parliamentarians and parliamentary support staff.
• Enhance the capacities of parliamentarians and parliamentary support staff in M&E evidence production and use;
• Link evaluation practices to the oversight roles of parliamentarians;
• Integrate evaluation into planning and budget processes of parliament.

The three-day training covered the following thematic areas.

1. The importance of M&E and building a culture of using evidence in oversight and accountability
2. Evidence-based policy-making cycle and Medium-Term Development Plan
3. Integrating evidence in planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation processes
4. The importance of theory of change in measuring outputs, outcomes and impact, assumptions and risks in implementation of policy plans, strategies and programme
5. The role of research and sources of empirical evidence in M&E processes
6. How to use credible, reliable sources of data in problem diagnosis and decision-making
7. Developing actionable recommendations and improvement plans
8. Collaboration between parliamentary committees and key stakeholders

The training was a success and indeed assisted members of parliament to gain the required skills. Thus, the overwhelming majority (92.3%) of respondents to the post-training survey rated the workshop as very pertinent to them/their work. Further, most respondents found the training content to be timely and informative (76.9%), while almost everyone (92.3%) highlighted the need for a follow-up training. This is indicative of their perceived relevance of the training, curiosity to deepen their knowledge and or skill in evidence-use for parliamentary oversight, cry for additional support to fully grasp issues / techniques discussed and / or brought to their attention for the first time. It also speaks to the trust and confidence in the trainers' individual and collective expertise and delivery styles.