What I learned in PRiME: Franck Adjobo

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Author: Franck Adjobo | Country: Benin

My name is Franck Ronald Adjobo, I’m from Benin. I’m an agro-economist engineer specialized in monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment. After several years of experience in agricultural development projects and public bodies, I took office in February 2018 as monitoring and evaluation officer of the Project to Support the Promotion of Adapted Rural Financial Services (PAPSFRA), working in the field of rural finance in Benin.  

When I took office, the project was two months away from its mid-term evaluation. My first challenges were to quickly understand the project’s intervention logic and to contribute effectively to the preparation of the mid-term review. It was a stimulating and very rewarding experience. The mid-term review revealed certain dysfunctions at the project level, in particular the deterioration of the savings and credit portfolio at the level of the main beneficiary, the Association of Financial Services of Benin (ASF-Benin). As a result, IFAD and the Government of Benin have agreed to the early closure of the project and the possible continuation of the recovery and re-launch of ASF-Benin.   

PRiME Fundamentals of M&E training came at the right time to enable me to familiarize myself with the tools promoted by IFAD in the area of monitoring & evaluation. Namely the theory of change, the logical framework, the performance measurement framework, the framework for monitoring risks and hypotheses, and the project monitoring dashboards. I also had the opportunity to interact directly with IFAD representatives, trainers and especially with other IFAD project M&E managers from around the world. The two Fundamentals of M&E courses enabled me to considerably increase my M&E skills and to strengthen my resilience on issues related to the proper implementation of projects. For example, after PRiME training I designed a checklist that allows me to improve the M&E of the project on a daily basis.  

All these acquired skills allowed me to face the difficulties of PAPSFRA with serenity. I updated the logical framework of the project with the support of a consultant, and the monitoring-evaluation manual was developed taking into account all the knowledge acquired. Furthermore, the capacities of the ASF-Benin staff have been strengthened in the area of monitoring & evaluation to introduce the participatory aspect.  

In terms of changes in my work, I admit that there is a lot of improvement in the way I approach my work. I am better equipped and I have a better overview of the project activities. In Benin, the Framework Programme for IFAD’s interventions in rural areas federates the various active IFAD projects. In June 2019, I was admitted to the position of Assistant to the Senior Coordinator of the Framework Programme, in charge of managing the operations. PRiME contributed to this and I am committed to continuing to put the learning acquired in PRiME into practice for greater success.