The fourth workshop on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) organized by the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 27 July – 1 August 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the workshop aimed to update SIMLESA country performance monitoring plan and train M&E focal persons and country objective coordinators in qualitative data collection, participatory design of data collection tools, and data quality management for Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
The workshop was opened by Enock Warinda (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa– ASARECA) and attended by 16 participants, including CIMMYT scientists, Dagne Wegary and Menale Kassie. Participants shared their experiences with data collection under SIMLESA and discussed potential ways to strengthen the data collection system. At the end of the workshop, the country M&E focal persons were tasked to develop M&E concepts for their respective countries to be funded and implemented through ASARECA and CIMMYT. To follow up on these activities, Peter Beine (ASARECA) and Austin Ngindi (CIMMYT-SIMLESA) will visit SIMLESA countries to assist with data quality assessment.
Capacity development 