To support the socioecoomic upliftment of women, the Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP) has been strengthening the technical and implementation capacities of all project staff since inception. Consistently, deliberate efforts were made to enhance capacities across the project components to effectively achieve its mission and objectives. The importance of capacity building for a project cannot be overemphasized, it enhances employee’s motivation, job performance and skills which ultimately lead to organizational performance. No doubt, investment in capacity building of this project staff is fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment for the implementation team.
In January (10th -14th) 2022, a four-day intensive workshop training on Project Management Information System (PMIS) and Monitoring tools was conducted for the Monitoring & Evaluation team, Financial Management team, and project coordinators from the State and Federal Project Coordinating Units (PCUs). The purpose of the workshop was to review and understand PMIS tools for data collection, using the IPIN Toolkit mobile application, to ensure the capturing and warehousing of accurate and quality information for the project activities and encourage standard practices in operationalization of the PMIS. As a result of this workshop, the capacity of the teams was strengthened in the delivery of project supervisory and monitoring activities. It also improved quality of project operations in terms of data collection, management, reporting and the usage of the PMIS.
The skills acquired at this training will enable the project tell its success stories and showcase impacts to the public, ensuring visibility for the project. In the same vein, a two-tier media workshop was conducted in February for practitioners on women empowerment and the impact of NFWP amongst newsroom managers, program producers, news reporters and correspondents from select news outlets in Nigeria. NFWP as a result of this engagement has enjoyed increased visibility, quality media mentions and elaborate reports and interviews showcasing the project impact.
The project Behaviour Change Communications (BCC) Team both from federal and states receive training on success documentation, camera handling and social media operations. This is aimed to ensure better understanding and improve the quantity and quality of success stories on the project.
It is interesting to note that NFWP consistently improves its effort to increase capacity across the four components of the project. An extensive WAG Federation training workshop for States Project Coordinating Units (SPCUs) Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) teams, Project Coordinators (PCs), Head of Operations (HOPs), and Local Facilitators (LFS) was helf in Abuja. Training built the capacity of participants to understand the purpose, structures and procedures for implementing WAG Federation at State and community levels. The training facilitated practical sessions and role plays for an effective and efficient step-down training to Ward Facilitators at the community level using the WAG federation training guide.