Towards effective project implementation and delivery, Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) has organised training for officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and its parastatals on the relevance of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) skills.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Dotun Shorunke, while speaking during a 2-day training tagged 'Monitoring and Evaluation Fundamentals’, said the training was apt in acquiring monitoring and evaluation skills, which were fast becoming relevant in the world, especially in terms of project management.

Represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr. Suraj Fashola, Dr. Shorunke commended the organisers for initiating such training on a grand scale for officers in the Ministry and urged the participants to tap from the wealth of knowledge of the resource persons, saying the skills would be required of them at a certain point in their career progression.

In her opening remark, the Project Manager, OGSTEP Agric, Dr. Oluseyi Olugbire said the training was borne out of the need to provide technical assistance to the Ministry, in order to help achieve some of its intended activities, using the resources of the project to bring to bear requisite knowledge of monitoring and evaluation.

In his presentation, one of the facilitators, Mr. Opeyemi Adejuwon, highlighted work plan study, conducting stakeholders’ analysis, preparing a template, monitoring the progress and periodic evaluation as steps required for optimal monitoring and evaluation of projects.

Adejuwon added that the training was relevant in ensuring that Project Development Objectives (PDO) was achieved through monitoring at different stages, as well as continuous evaluation.

Also speaking, the Acting Project Coordinator, Mrs. Mosun Owo-Odunsi, noted that M&E is for measuring goals and objectives set for a project and gauging the effectiveness of the resources expended, which could lead to recognition of challenges and proffering solutions.

She added that the participants should put into practice all they have gained as this would be valuable career-wise and in other aspects of their daily living.

Participants at the training, Mrs. Folake Adebiyi and Dr. Tokunbo Otulana, said the knowledge imparted would make them more efficient and effective in the discharge of their duties, promising that the skills acquired would be put to good use.