Gurkha Welfare Trust Nepal (GWT N) invited SW Nepal (Scott Wilson Nepal) to undertake an orientation and training programme to strengthen its Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) functions. The approach was to develop familiarisation of the MEL concepts, tools and practices relevant to WASH and project contexts to the wider staff members and impart specific MEL skill set to dedicated MEL team at GWT N.

• To share the meaning and importance monitoring and evaluation indicators.
• To familiarise the participants with the working concept of monitoring, evaluation and learning.
• To provide an overview on how M&E strategies can be operationalized in the GWT context especially in the WASH sector.
• To impart learning documentation, data collection, data management and analysis skills through hands-on training on practical tools such as Excel and SPSS.

The training programme enabled overall management team of the GWT N to understand and appreciate the importance of MEL at
institutional level while enabling the core MEL Unit to sharpen its skills in key MEL tools. The first two days of the 5-day programme was carried out in Pokhara within the GWT N premises. This was participated by 17 GWT N team members. The events were designed to orient the GWT N team on the concepts and theories of MEL and provide an overview on how MEL practices can be used in the GWT N projects, particularly in the WASH context.
The Kathmandu based 3-day event with participation of the MEL M&E Officer and Communication Coordinator focused on key MEL tools to familiarise the team on their applications.

The coverage of MEL areas were extensive to allow the participants a wider exposure which they can follow up on their own. In brief, the following key areas were covered: Project cycle management and the role of MEL in project cycle, meaning and importance of monitoring and evaluation, conceptual aspect of logframe and indicators, general overview of evaluation process, life cycle analysis of WASH project and systematic monitoring of WASH Projects, data management and analysis tools, development of monitoring plan with the support of indicators etc.