Access to Markets in Ghana - Evaluation report of the workshops

he overall objective of the LLL workshop was to aid project formulation partners in advancing the project formulation process. The workshop in general achieved its objective with some of the learning outcomes of the workshop being awareness of various types of ICTs and their usefulness; good knowledge of ICT and its applications for project development process; the ability to manipulate the computer than before; and to access information from the internet.

It was the view of participants at the FGM that capacity development workshops like the LLL can be improved if questionnaire administration for needs assessment could be improved to provide a better understanding of the background of prospective trainees; and if sufficient time is provided for the various topics during the training programme.

In relation to the Roundtable conference the pertinent issues that came out of the M&E partner’s report was whether the selection of participants for the roundtable conference was made to include the important stakeholders; and whether the workshop generate enough ideas to help formulate ICT related projects in the agricultural sector of the Ghanaian economy.

Most participants believed that certain key stakeholders in the ICT industry were not represented at the workshop. Participants observed that the roundtable conference was also a good start in project development i.e. it served as a good source for obtaining information on ICT options in the agricultural sector.

However both workshops were important in the sense that there were important learning outcomes from both workshops. The LLL workshop for instance generated awareness of various types of ICTs and their usefulness to the participants, provided good knowledge of ICT and its applications for project development process; provided participants with the ability to manipulate the computer than before, ability to access information from the internet; and introduced them to the creation of a home page and website designing.

The Life Long Learning workshop and the Roundtable workshops could be said to have both achieved the objectives set for the two workshops. Whilst the Roundtable was expected to generate enough ideas for possible use as basis for project formulation, the LLL was to help facilitate the project formulation process itself. Whilst the Roundtable was limited by the inability of the organizers to assemble all the important stakeholders in the ICT for agriculture market, there was not enough time spent on the topics under consideration during the Life Long Learning Workshop.

The Focus Group Meeting also provided a platform where the results of the M&E reports on the two workshops were discussed and the ideas generated at the FGM is expected to help improve future workshops of similar nature.

More information

This is a summary of a longer report prepared by IICD’s M&E partner, Prof. A. Baah-Nuakoh of the Department of Economics University of Ghana. Contact IICDfor more information on this report.

More information on the Ghana Country Programme can be obtained through Olaf Erz (oerz@iicd.org) and www.iicd.org/countries/ghana.
The methodology and approach used are described in an IICD Research Report 5. Request a copy by sending an email to communications@iicd.org or download the full text in word or pdf format.