A two-day workshop was held at the Hotel Avari in Lahore from the 27th and 28th of January, 2009. The workshop was hosted by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on ‘Outcomes Monitoring’.
The workshop was attended by members of various organizations funded by the SDC. Several representatives from Transparency International Pakistan, Shirkat Gah (SG), UNICEF, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), The Asia Foundation (TAF), Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), South Asian Partnership (SAP-PK), the International Labor Organization (ILO). Representatives from the Norwegian Embassy and CIDA also joined in the workshop activities.
Ms. Kanwal Bokharey, National Program Officer, SDC facilitated the workshop. The first day pre-lunch session revolved around a presentation-based workshop where the attendees were given the concept, uses, benefits and challenges of Outcomes Monitoring. The post-lunch session had all the participants working together in an interactive session to apply what had been learned that day. A synthesis of all that had been learned that day ended the first day.
The second day, pre-lunch session of the workshop witnessed presentations made by members of all the organizations present for the workshop, and their application of Outcomes Monitoring in their projects. Mr. Saad Rashid, Executive Director TI-P presented on behalf of the organization, and his presentation was highly appreciated for its directness and self-explanatory statements. This session also brought to light many queries attendees had regarding Outcomes Monitoring and resulted in a highly interactive and informative session. The post-lunch session once again had an interactive group exercise where each organization had to look into the challenges they face in Outcomes Monitoring and what could be done to resolve the challenges.
The workshop ended on a positive and upbeat note, where all participants were highly appreciative of the knowledge gained and lessons learnt. All attendees left with a useful cache of information regarding the application, uses, benefits and challenges of Outcomes Monitoring.