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GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE

NANATIONAL COMMISSION FOR SOCIALACTION

TRAINING EVALUATION REPORT FOR UNHCR

February 21 – 23, 2018

Reported by:

Abdulai Kamara, RC-M&E

(N a C S A)

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Table of Contents ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................3 Overview: ......................................................................................................................................4 Objectives of the training: .............................................................................................................5 Participants Expectations………………………………………………………………………………………………………....5 Participants’ profile: ......................................................................................................................6 Training Methodology and Modules: ............................................................................................6 General Evaluation of the Training: ...............................................................................................7 Participants Responses to Questionnaire: ....................................................................................8 Participants Learning: ..................................................................................................................11 Assessment of Facilitators: ..........................................................................................................12 Observation of Training materials…………………………………………………………………………………………..12 Conclusions: .................................................................................................................................13 Recommendations: ...............................................................................................................14 ANNEXES: ..........................................................................................................................

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ABBREVIATIONS CARL Centre of Accountability and Rule of Law CCG Campaign for Good Governance MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs MOHS Ministry of Health and Sanitation MSWGCA Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children Affairs NNGO National Non-Governmental Organization NaCSA National Action for Social Action OAU Organisation of African Unity ONS Office of National Security R&R Relief and Resettlement SLAJ Sierra Leone Association of Journalist SLP Sierra Leone Police

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1.0 Overview

The Relief and Resettlement (R&R) Programme is one of the many programmes the National

Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) is implementing. The Commission, through the R&R unit,

organized a 3-day training workshop on international Protection of Refugees and Stateless

Persons in conjunction with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Two

consultants/trainers were drawn from Dakar, Senegal to train line institutions and agencies

relating to the handling of refugees in Sierra Leone.

It is against this background that the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit in NaCSA, through

its Regional Coordinator –M&E, conducted a post training evaluation to gauge the perceptions

of participants to know whether their expectations match the training objectives of the

workshop. Evaluation of trainings is one of the main components of a training program. It will

not only provide the trainer with useful information in order to further improve the training

course in future, but also creates an impression of completeness.

Usually the trainer can determine how well the training process goes by observing the group

dynamic, activity of the participants, by analyzing spontaneous comments, and etc.

Nevertheless, evaluation as a component of a program gives the trainer an opportunity to

validate its observations, as well as given opportunity to participants to express their opinions

through a closed and open-ended questionnaire.

This evaluation report presents the outcome and feedbacks on International Protection of

Refugees and Stateless persons training held in Freetown, Sierra Leone at the PSALM 23 Hotel

from 21st – 23rd February, 2018. The report captures participants’ impressions on different

aspects of the training.

In terms of methodology, a questionnaire is used comprising brief structured questions on

various aspects of the training which is circulated to the participants and is consisting of closed

and opened scaled questions.

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1.2 Objectives of the Training

The basic concept of the international protection of refugees and stateless persons training is to

bring changes in specific areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to prepare the R&R

Unit at NaCSA and other line institutions related to refugees for better handling of refugees and

refugee’s related issues. The main training objectives are to enable Sierra Leone Stakeholders

to:

Develop full ownership over the protection of persons of concern to UNHCR;

Provide harmonized counseling and orientation on issues relating to termination of

refugee status, durable solutions, and prevention and reduction of statelessness;

Implement protection activities autonomously with little UNHCR supervision

1.3 Participants’ Expectations:

The training started with a formal welcome and introduction and the trainers provided a brief

overview of what the whole training entails. Then participants were requested to present their

expectations for the 3 days training to see whether the expectations of the participants

generally matched with the objectives of the training. The expectations are summarized as

follow:

To have an active and successful cooperation and collaboration with colleagues in line

institutions handling refugees

Capacity building through knowledge and strengthening skills on issues that hinge on

refugees

To know Who a refugee is

To know the various conventions on refugee protections at the end of the training

workshop

To know what are durable solutions and their applications

To know the difference between 1951 and 1969 conventions

Modalities of losing refugee status (cancellation, revocation and cessation)

To know who needs international protection and how

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1.4 Participants’ profile

The training participants were drawn from various line institutions directly or indirectly

connected to refugee’s protection or facilitation. A total of 30 participants from different

institutions including NaCSA, attended the training program. Table 1 shows that 30 % of

participants were female as compared to the male participants, 70%.

Table 1: Total number of participants

Institution’s Name

Total No. of Participants Per institution

No. of Male No. of Female

NaCSA 5 3 2

MoFA 3 3 -

Education 1 - 1

Human Rights 4 2 2

MoHS 1 - 1

Min. of Labour 1 1 -

MSWGCA 1 1 -

Immigration 2 2 -

Police 1 1 -

AMNET 1 1 -

Legal Aid Board 1 1

CGG 1 1

CARL 1 1 -

Defense for Children 1 1

Internal Affairs 2 - 2

Local Government 1 1

SLAJ 1 1

Conscience International 1 1 -

ONS 1 1 -

TOTAL 30 21 9

2.0 Training Methodology and Modules

The training methodology consisted of presentations (lectures), case studies, group works,

discussions, a game, brainstorming, practical and experience sharing etc. At the beginning of

the training, participants expressed their expectations on a piece of paper and swap these

expectations among themselves and each was able to read his/her co-participant’s expectation

aloud. At day-3 of the training, the expectations and the training objectives were discussed to

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see whether they match. A pre-test in the form of quiz was done before lectures and at the end

post-test was done again after the lectures for participants in order to assess the skills,

knowledge and improvement of the training. And at the end an evaluation questionnaire was

distributed in order to evaluate the training results and its success amongst the participants as

well.

2.1 Module

The main training modules comprising Protection and the various Conventions and

Statelessness are structured in sessions for duration of three days with the subjects/topics in

table 2.

Table 2: Topics/sections covered

Sections Subject/Topic

01 International Protection and Persons of Concern to UNHCR

02 Definition of Refugees: 1951 Geneva Convention

03 Extended definition of refugee: 1969 OAU Convention

04 Special Procedures: Individual RSD, prima facie recognition , accelerated procedures

05 Recap & quiz

06 Termination of refugee status: Cessation

07 Exemption to Cessation

08 Other forms of termination of refugee status: revocation and cancellation

09 Durable solutions for refugees

10 Case studies

11 Recap and quiz

12 Nationality and statelessness: key definitions

13 UNHCR’s mandate on statelessness: Identification, Prevention, Reduction, Protection

14 Identification of persons at risk of stateless

15 Solutions for stateless persons

16 Case studies

17 Wrap-up and evaluation

3.0 General Evaluation of the Training

The M&E Unit through the Regional Coordinator carried an evaluation to assess the impact and

effectiveness of UNHCR training in conjunction with NaCSA on International Protection of

Refugees and Stateless Persons. The responses are provided via a questionnaire completed by

participants and there was no compulsion for participants to complete these forms, and they

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were asked to do it objectively without sentimental attachment. Out of 30 participants, 20

participants answered the questionnaires which represent 67% of the total number of

participants.

3.1 Participants Responses to the Questionnaire

The participants were asked to assess the overall performance and the extent to which the

training objectives were met, how they rate the training, the relevance and usefulness of the

training, performance of the trainers, usefulness of the distributed materials, and finally the

location and meals. The aforementioned issues are explored in the following:

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As the evaluation shows, 94.2% (combined average of strongly agree and agree) of the

participants indicated that their expectations and needs were met by the training. Only 5.8%

participants thought their expectation and needs were not completely met, the combined

average of disagree and strongly agree show. The 5.8% dissatisfaction came largely due to the

transport fare which they complained was not enough.

The participants indicated that the training objectives were clearly clarified, the training was

relevant to their needs, materials provided were useful, and the content well organised. The

effectiveness of the trainers and the clarity in the instructions provided excellent opportunity to

learn from and to exchange experience and knowledge amongst participants.

Participants were asked to give their general impression about the training, and the results

show that 90% of the participants expressed satisfaction about the training in terms of content

and methodology. Individual lectures were considered informative. Group works, discussions

and training supporting materials and case studies were rated very well.

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Table 2: Ratings of Participants’ view in Percentages

Participants were also asked to make general comments on the training. The comments are

summarised as below:

More training materials are needed in all the covered topics during the workshop for ease of

referencing

More participants from different institutions connected to the handling of refugees should have

been invited

Percentage Ratings of participants views on Training outcomes

Assessment Questions

Strongly agree

(Sa)

(4)

(%)

Agree

(A)

(3)

(%)

Disagree

(Da)

(2) (%)

Strongly disagree

(Sd)

(1)

(%)

The objectives of the training were clarified clearly 55 45 - -

Training was relevant to my needs 65 35 - -

Materials provided were useful 90 10 - -

Length of training was sufficient 45 50 5 -

Content was well organised 65 35

Questions were encouraged 75 25 - -

Instructions were clear and understandable 60 40 - -

Training met my expectations 70 30 - -

The presenter (s) and presentation was effective 85 15 - -

The training venue was conducive and comfortable 20 65 15 -

Tea Break & Launch served were good and sufficient 15 85 -

Transport allowances were ok to/from the distance of venue 15 35 45

Overall Combined Average Score Average Sa + A = 94.2

Average Da + Sd = 5.8

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The transportation allowance was very small owing to the distance of the venue of the

workshop and this should be looked into

The steering committee on statelessness should have been involved

This training needs to be replicated to other line institutions and agencies using the training of

trainers model

Further training of this kind should be organised

3.2 Participants Learning

Before the starting of training, a short quiz in the form of a pre-test was taken from participants

in order to test the knowledge of the participants regarding international Protection of

Refugees and Stateless Persons training in knowing which definitions suit the following best and

which of the conventions that are tied to each: Refugee, returnee, internally displaced persons,

asylum seekers, and stateless. At the end of training again, the participants were given a post-

test quiz which focused on same topics in pre-test in order to assess the acquired knowledge

and capacity of the participants (see table 3)

Table 3: Participants quiz scores for both Pre-test and Post-test

Quiz/test Questions on Pre-test Scoring (%) Post-Test Scoring (%) Improved Changes %

Refugee 36 86 50

Returnee 30 81 51

Internally Displaced Persons 33 77 44

Stateless 25 72 47

Asylum Seekers 20 69 49

Overall Changes 28.8 77 48.2

The pre-test results indicate that about 29% of participants had knowledge on refugee,

returnee, internally displaced persons, stateless, and asylum seekers. However, at the end of

training their knowledge was improved to 77% on these areas. The comparing results of pre-

test and post-test show 48 % improving of the skills and knowledge.

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Figure 2: Post and Pre Tests scores

3.3 Assessment of Facilitators

Through observation, as one of the tools used in evaluating the training, a thorough assessment

was done on the Facilitators during the course of the training. The following are objective

assessment of the facilitators:

The facilitators’ approach was very participatory, which made the lecture more

interesting and interactive

Use of space, facilitation and discussions were good

The Facilitators were very knowledgeable in all the topics covered

The overall course was good and very useful

The facilitators kept good eye contact and engaged the participants in all the sessions

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3.4 Observation on Training materials Used

The following were the training materials used as observed during the course of the training:

Flip chart and projector were used

The slides were self-explanatory

Colourful notebooks with UNHCR logo and pens distributed to participants

Printer

Past it papers for writing expectations

4.1 Conclusion and Recommendation

4.2 Conclusion

The training was by all account a successful event as it provided an opportunity for the

participants to learn new ideas. A total number of 30 participants were drawn from key lines

institutions and agencies, and they were successfully trained. The overall impression of the

training was good as a number of the participants expressed satisfaction; stating that the

training met their needs and expectation. The instructors were excellent, simple, participatory

and informative as the evaluator is with the belief that participants have acquired new

knowledge.

The expectations of the participants generally matched the objectives of the training. This

training gives a comprehensive guideline to the participants; they improved their knowledge in

International protection of refugees and stateless persons.

However, participants pointed some problems regarding the length of time and the transport

allowances were found not to be sufficient among participants. A good number of the

participants said the 3-day training was not enough to cover all the educative topics and

therefore called for more days to be allocated for these types of trainings, going forward.

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4.3 Recommendations

The number of female representation was low, and should be increased in the future

Although the training objectives matched participants objectives, but that could have

been resolved before the training starts rather at the end.

The number of days for these types of trainings should be increased to a minimum of 4

days to accommodate all the topics

More materials should be provided per topic at any given time at the end of each

sessions of a training going forward

More practical exercises with case studies should havebeen provided to complement

the quality of the training

The Training of Trainer’s model (TOT) should have been used more so when the number

of participants was small to cascade the training to those who were not present.

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ANNEXES

Annex 1: Training Activities in Pictures

Activity Pic : Cross-Section of Participants Activity

Annex 2: Training Schedule

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Annex 3: Questionnaire

THE MONITORING AND EVALUATION DIVISION –NaCSA

TRAINING EVALUATION QUESTIONAIRE

Date of Training: From..............................................To.............................................................. Facilitator (s)................................................................................................................................ Topics (s) Covered......................................................................................................................

Criteria

Strongly

agree

(4)

Agree

(3)

Disagree

(2)

Strongly disagree

(1)

The Objectives of training were clarified

Training was relevant to my needs

Materials provided were useful

Length of training was sufficient

Content was well organised

Questions were encouraged

Instructions were clear and understandable

Training met my expectations

The presenter (S) and presentation was effective

The training venue was conducive and comfortable

Tea break and launch served were good and

sufficient

Transport allowances were ok for to and from the

training venuevenue

1. Which of the topics covered interest you more?...........................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

2. What was your general impression about the training ?

A) Excellent

B) Very good

C) Good

D) Fair

E) Poor

....................................................................................................................................................

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3. General Comments:....................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................................................

THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR TIME TO HELP M&E, KMR&V DIVISION