RE: The farmer as a key participant of M&E: lessons and experiences from Participatory M&E systems | Eval Forward

As part of the implementation of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program Missing middle Initiative (GAFSP MMI) Senegal project, the FAO team based in the field with had among its missions the establishment of a participatory and inclusive Monitoring and Evaluation system. Today we decided to capitalize on this experience in order to share it for beneficial purposes. In summary, the process started with a diagnosis of the essentials in terms of monitoring and evaluation or even data management near the beneficiary producer organizations at the office level with the technical team and at the field level with the farmers. This diagnostic mission made it possible to scope the monitoring and evaluation system with a clear object and its fields of application. This mission has also made it possible to have a look and discussion on the tools currently used by farmers in the context of their activities in order to integrate them in the system after discussion and reinforcement. The discussion makes it possible to see the shortcomings with farmers and other stakeholders in order to take the initiative together to strengthen the system in this direction. After this phase, the unit proceeded with the design of the device and the tools shared with the producer organizations for validation. It is in the implementation that we made the producer organizations responsible for their participation and reinforcement so that after the project they would be able to unfold the device. Each producer organization has its team formed by the coordination unit in a progressive manner for the implementation of the device. They are in the collection of quantitative data with KoBo collect and qualitative data with Dictaphones and focal points in the management of the database with KoBo collect. Today the implementation of the system is participatory in all the functions that make it up in its entirety. We will not fail to share the experience after capitalization with a lot of information on the methods and approaches adopted.