Module 5: Action planning and evaluation
INTRODUCTION
Module 5 addresses the concerns on what happens next after this training. This will help guide the participants on the concrete follow-through activities and actions that need to be done after the training.
The second activity of Module 5 is the evaluation of the training.
OUTPUT OBJECTIVES
At the end of Module 5, participants will have:
1. Identified the concrete roles and tasks of staff involved in the WPD regarding micro-enterprise development.
2. Determined the content areas and training programs for project staff and women's groups in their own county/township.
3. Evaluated this training and made suggestions for improvement.
Background and Rationale
In module I participants have identified the major areas of project assistance to women's groups in micro-enterprise development. In subsequent modules the role and tasks of project officers were detailed. In this topic participants will review the training content and concretize their tasks in relation to women's groups activities. They will also determine the content areas of training for project staff and women's groups and develop a training plan for their respective counties/ townships in the next half year.
Output Objectives
At the end of the topic, participants will have:
1. Reviewed the training content and identified the concrete roles and tasks of staff involved in the WPD project regarding micro-enterprise development.
2. Determined the content areas for training of project staff and women's groups micro-enterprise development.
3. A training plan for training of project staff and women's groups in their respective counties/townships.
Time: 1 hour
Steps:
1. Facilitator refers to the major areas of project assistance as formulated by the participants in module 1 (Visual Aid 1-6). Remind participants that this was based on the analysis of the most common weaknesses and constraints of micro-entrepreneurs.
Visual Aid 1-6 Type of Project Assistance to the Micro-Entrepreneur |
Visual Aid T-1 Training Design |
2. Facilitator then reviews the training design (Visual Aid T-1) for the content of the modules and asks the participants to concretize the specific tasks of township and county project officers in assisting the women's groups and in fund management. Facilitator asks participants to use the format of the table below and illustrates an example.
3. The participants are asked to break into sub-groups of about 5 persons. (Allow about 30 minutes). Ask each group to present the outputs on newsprint.
4. Each sub-group presents and other groups are given the opportunity to comment and add to it. Trainer uses the table below for his own reference. Note that this activity is primarily for participants to recapitulate the [earnings in order to internalize their roles and tasks and to be able to make a training plan for "echo training" in their own county/township. It is not necessary to have a standardized output, but it is important that all important aspects are mentioned.
Area |
Women's Group |
Township Officer |
County Officer |
Business Planning |
· trained in ME development |
· trained in ME development |
· trained in ME development |
· trains WG in ME development |
· trains TS officers and/or WG in ME development | ||
· prepare business plans, incl. market investigation |
· assist WG with planning, market information, arrangements training, technical advisory service, etc. |
· assist in opportunity scanning, finding markets, improving quality | |
· start technical skills training |
· assist WG and TS officer when needed | ||
Loan Applications |
· prepare individual loan applications and group loan applications |
· assist WG with preparation loan application |
· assist WG and TS officer when needed |
· assess applications |
· assess applications | ||
· formulate recommendations and follow through assistance |
· assess TS evaluation report | ||
· summarize data for Governing Body | |||
· prepare TS evaluation report |
· formulate recommendations and follow through action | ||
· submit TS evaluation report to county |
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· prepare and submit evaluation report to Governing Body | |||
· write agreements | |||
· release funds | |||
Implementation |
· release to members incl. agreements |
· monitor loan utilization monthly |
· monitor monthly |
· technical skills training |
· train WG or arrange training by experts |
· coordinate inputs relevant bureaus | |
· mutual support |
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· clear group financial system and records |
· monitor and assist group in record keeping and policy formulation |
· monitor and assist WG and TS officer | |
· individual financial records and analysis, incl. income statements |
· assist micro-entrepreneurs, eg. with record keeping, market information |
· assist micro entrepreneurs and TS officer in opportunity scanning, market information, improving quality | |
· monitor and review | |||
· submit group financial status to members and TS officer |
· regular review group financial status together with group |
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· repayments |
· monitor, update records and submit monthly report to county |
· monitor, update records and submit monthly report to Governing Body and DOFTEC | |
· identify and solve problems |
· identify and solve problems |
Time: 1 hour
Steps:
1. Facilitator requests the participants to refer again to the training design (Visual Aid T1 ). Facilitator asks the participants which topics/activities they feel should be included for (a) training of project staff and (b) training for women's groups. Let sub-groups discuss for 10 minutes before presenting the outputs on newsprint.
2. Facilitator summarizes the key agreements on the content areas of the two training programs. facilitator encourages especially the following content areas for training of women's groups: cash record, income statement. business planning and assessment of loan applications, savings mobilization and utilization and group financial records.
3. Facilitator then asks the participants to identify the training activities on micro-enterprise development that they want to schedule in their county/township for: a. township project officers b. women's groups
4. Facilitator asks participants to make the training plan for the training activities they want to undertake, using the format below (Give 20 minutes). Note that the training plan depends on the participants in the training. For example, county project officers may plan to train township officers: women's groups may plan to make income statements and study these in the group meeting.
No. |
Facilitators |
Content |
Participant |
Duration |
Month |
(township or county project officers, group accountant, how many) |
(which modules, topics, what modifications) |
(township or county project officers, women's groups, loan committees, other; how many of each) |
(number of days) |
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1. |
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2 |
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3 |
6. Facilitator asks three participants to present their training plan and asks others for suggestions. Facilitator checks whether the outputs are realistic and makes suggestions such as regarding the number and type of participants, content areas, etc.
Background and Rationale
Participants will have filled in an evaluation form after each module. The facilitators therefore already have a consolidation of the written evaluation when this topic starts. In this topic participants will be asked to evaluate the whole training and to come up with suggestions for improvement for the facilitators. The evaluation will show which parts of the training require special attention, which were most useful for the participants and what follow through action can be expected.
Output Objectives
At the end of the topic, participants will have:
1. Evaluated the training and have made suggestions to the facilitators for improvement.
2. Identified critical elements in conducting this training.
Time: 1 hour
Steps:
1. Facilitator introduces the activity by explaining the purpose of the evaluation, which is for facilitators to get feed-back from the participants in order to improve in next training courses, and for participants to think about the critical aspects in conducting training, which can be useful when they will act as facilitators themselves after returning home.
2. Facilitator reminds the participants of the general objectives of the training as agreed upon at the start of the training, being for participants to have acquired the knowledge, skills and attitude on:
a. The role of micro-enterprise development as a means to improve the status of women
b. The role of project officers in assisting women micro-entrepreneurs
c. Micro-enterprise planning and assessment
d. Micro-enterprise management
e. Fund utilization and management
3. Ask participants to discuss the following three questions (write on the black board) in sub-groups of 5 persons:
a. Have the training objectives been achieved? Ask for specific examples.
b. What comments/suggestions do you have regarding the content of the training?
c. What comments/suggestions do you have on the methodology of the training?
4. Before breaking into sub-groups the facilitator presents the consolidation of the written evaluations on newsprint and raises some specific questions for participants to discuss in the sub-groups. Examples of these questions could be:
- for topics and activities that are not appreciated much' facilitator could ask participants about the reason (too difficult, not clearly explained, boring lecture, wrong methodology, etc. and to come up with suggestions on how to improve
- for topics and activities that are very much appreciated, facilitator could also ask about the reason
5. Ask sub-groups to write their conclusions on newsprint and give 20 minutes for discussion.
6. Ask each sub-group to present and thank participants for their suggestions.
7. To end the training in a cheerful way, facilitator could conduct a quiz among subgroups. Below some sample test questions are given. This will also give additional information to facilitators on the [earnings of the participants. Note that this kind of questions could also be inserted after each module.
Question 1
A business has a Net Profit of 200 rmb per cycle, 4 cycles per year. The total invested capital is 1000 rmb. Is this a profitable business?
Answer 1. Yes, return on invested capital is 80 % per year.
Question 2
A loan of 600 rmb (interest 2% per month) is requested to buy equipment (life time 5 years). Net Cash Income will be 200 rmb/month. The production costs are 100 rmb/month. Should the loan application be approved? If yes, how much can she repay each month?
Answer 2. Net Profit is Net Cash Income minus Depreciation minus Interest on loan: 200-10-12= 178 rmb. This is a good profit (why?), the loan can be approved. Monthly amortization can he Net Profit minus Production Costs for the next cycle. 178-100= 78 rmb.
Other
For example: some questions whether a certain item is recorded in the cash record as inflow, outflow, or not recorded because it is not a cash transaction (see Module 3).
For example: What information cannot be found in the cash record, but is needed in the income statement (depreciation, inventory, non-cash costs and income).
8 Then end the training by thanking the participants for their cooperation.
