“There is a myth that it is very difficult to measure the impact of PSS interventions and to find good indicators. We put this myth to rest in Beirut, Lebanon in the middle of April 2016”
Alex Ssimbwa, psychosocial support delegate in Liberia for Danish Red Cross.
Ssimbwa and 11 Danish Red Cross psychosocial support delegates, their National Society counterparts and four staff from Lebanese Red Cross participated in a training developed and conducted by the PS Centre on monitoring and evaluating psychosocial support programmes. The training was hosted by Danish Red Cross and Lebanese Red Cross and is based on the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework which is developed by the PS Centre.
“Psychosocial support delegates and staff need a wide range of skills. They need to understand and be able to provide high quality psychosocial support interventions, but they also need to be able to monitor and evaluate the effects of the interventions”, explains Louise Vinther-Larsen. Vinther-Larsen is a technical advisor for the PS Centre and the co-author of the new monitoring and evaluation framework.
Click the slideshow to see what goes on in a psychosocial monitoring and evaluation training.
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“Through the creative training methodologies and the rich resource materials on assessment, log frame development, indicator selection and developing M&E plans for psychosocial support programmes, I am now much better able to assess, monitor and evaluate PSS programmes” Alex Ssimbwa says “I have gained enormous experience and skills to develop a good log frame and M&E plan, which will be used in different PSS programmes. I will also use the resource material in training staff and volunteers of Liberia National Red Cross Society in understanding of how the M&E tools are relevant for their work. I am comfortable to say that the quality of our PSS programmes will be much better as it will be easier to monitor and measure the change made through PSS interventions”.
“Developing the framework has been a long process and coming here to Beirut to present it to this group of very experienced psychosocial support delegates is a real privilege. With this training Danish Red Cross is making a substantial investment in the skills and knowledge of their psychosocial support delegates and their partners. At the same time, this training is a unique opportunity for the PS Centre to test the framework and the training on a group of highly qualified people. We are bringing home invaluable feedback, which we will use to improve both the training and the framework”, says Vinther-Larsen.
The next training in using the Monitoring and evaluation framework will take place at the PS Centre in Copenhagen in late May 2016, and more trainings are being planned and will be announced in PS Centre newsletters, on Facebook and on this website.