A team of young businesswomen from the Springbok area recently graduated from a Monitoring, Evaluating, and Reporting (ME&R) Training Programme. These women have gone on to found a business of their own, Namaqua Data Collectors and Processors, that provides research, data capturing, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on community projects in the Namaqualand region.
“We want to achieve positive, sustainable, meaningful, and long-lasting socio-economic and economic transformation in our eight beneficiary communities, and to do this, we developed a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Strategy that will incorporate the training of data collectors and the establishment of a data collection, analysis, and reporting SMME. The data training will form part of the ongoing M&E for Kangnas Wind Farm community development projects,” explained Rouchet Daniels, Economic Development Manager for Kangnas Wind Farm, which funded this programme as part of its acceleration enterprise development initiative.
Implemented by the Africa Foundation for Sustainable Development for Sustainable Development (AFSD), the trainees completed multiple tasks, including theoretical assignments and the formulation of necessary documents during the programme.
A highlight included the eight delegates completing a one-week face-to-face training in Springbok, which was designed to inform them of the expectations as Data Monitoring and Evaluation Processors and to teach them the basics of how to collect data and compile a report. Additionally, the delegates received working equipment such as laptops, as well as portable backup systems with solar panels that are used to charge devices such as laptops and cell phones during load shedding.
“I am delighted to have been chosen to participate in this training programme and to be given the opportunity to demonstrate my abilities. I gained a lot of experience and learned a lot about myself, my weaknesses, and my strengths,” said one of the programme beneficiaries, Courine Dirkse.
As a result of the training, the team gained many valuable skills and knowledge in the data capturing industry that will enable them to make a success of their SMME and conduct more projects as a fully functional company. This opportunity has not only benefitted the delegates in terms ME&R but also on SMME sustainability and business ethics that will be used in all future endeavours.
