I am Boubacar Aw, Coordinator of the Regional Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR) for Francophone Africa hosted at Centre Africain d’Etudes Superieures en Gestion (CESAG) in Senegal, Dakar. I am writing today to offer practical tips on how to develop teaching materials through a Training of Trainers (ToT) model. These tips are especially helpful when you are trying to develop teaching materials adapted to different contexts.
Lessons Learned Through Experience:
There are numerous teaching materials on M&E in English. The main challenge faced by Francophone Africa is to develop materials in French– there is work do to! It is not just about translation; it is about how to adapt materials to Francophone African context with “real example” case studies to make them useful to the practitioners in the field. A great way to develop such materials is through a ToT approach.
Before a ToT program begins, teaching materials are prepared by a team of master trainers. During a ToT event, trainers use these materials for the training. At the same time, trainees are asked to divide themselves into groups by modules of their interests and to provide feedback on the teaching materials. Moreover, trainees share their own experiences in M&E and provide “real examples.” Such examples are incorporated into the teaching materials as case studies.
During the ToT event, mock-training is organized so that trainees can already test the materials as well as case studies. When trainees go back to their own countries and work places, they can further test the materials and provide further suggestions of necessary adjustments to the trainers.
Hot Tips:
- Involving trainees to develop teaching materials turns out to be a very effective way to make necessary adaptations to the materials to a Francophone African context.
- Organizing a mock-training during a ToT event is a good way to make necessary modifications to teaching materials. Trainees also feel more at ease to use case studies suggested by them during a mock-training.
- It is important to have one trainer responsible for harmonizing and finalizing the teaching materials!
Rad Resources:
- The International Labour Organization has produced a handy Trainer’s Toolbox of Training Techniques
- The OECD Development Assistance Committee has produced a trilingual Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results Based Management (available in English, French and Spanish), as well as in other languages found on their overall publications website.
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