A two-day workshop on project monitoring and evaluation organised by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) The Gambia ended on Wednesday at the Jerma Beach Hotel in Kololi.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Nicole Poirier, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Country Representative in The Gambia, said it was good to have all CRS partners and stakeholders at the workshop.
The active involvement and contribution of their partners to the discussion during the workshop was very vital in assessing the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities of the organisation, Ms. Poirier said, adding that improving the systems to meet the requirement of the Global Fund (GF) malaria project is vital to her organization.
The CRS Country boss explained: "The importance of the workshop cannot be overemphasised because it is a Global Fund requirement for Catholic Relief Services as a Principal Recipient and its partners in the malaria consolidation grant to have a complete assessment of its monitoring and evaluation plans, tools, systems and management capacities."
According to her, the outcome of the Monitoring and Evaluation System Strengthening Tool (MESST) workshop will help CRS to identify M&E capacity gaps and its corresponding and strengthening measures. She added: "It will also improve the quality of programmatic data to enhance planning and programme management.
"The M&E workshop will be successful and, with the partners and stakeholders’ cooperation, will establish a strong and functional M&E systems and tools for better malaria programme management in The Gambia."
Adama Jagne Sonko, Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, said in her speech that M&E "is very important" in everything they do, especially in malaria control.
While thanking CRS, together with other stakeholders, for their effort in partnering with the malaria control unit under the Ministry of Health, Mrs Sonko called on the participants to make best use of the knowledge gained from the workshop.
