This assessment was a 60 day consultancy by IMA International, looking at the training and capacity needs for five core Ministries in Bangladesh working to mainstream nutrition in policy and planning. The assignment was completed under the guidance of the FAO Bangladesh, the Meeting the Undernutrition Challenge (MUCH) team, in close consultation and collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh counterparts, especially the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) and the policy/planning wings of core Ministries, as well as development partners including donors and civil society organizations.

The Government of Bangladesh is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to ensure food and nutrition security for all citizens - including the most vulnerable households, mothers and young children - through a comprehensive approach to sustainable food availability, access and utilization for nutrition. Policy development has increasingly included nutrition as a key objective and there have been considerable efforts to create an enabling environment for the mainstreaming of nutrition in policy. To this purpose, capacity strengthening remains key to successful implementation of food and nutrition policies.

After an initial desk review to understand the development of food and nutrition policies in Bangladesh, a mixture of qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to conduct an institutional needs assessment including direct interviews, GAP Analysis, VENN diagramming, Action Planning, Focus Group Discussions, Participatory Mapping, field visits to Sylhet, and Mymensingh, and a Knowledge Management Assessment.  A huge well done to everyone involved in the improvements in nutrition for the people of Bangladesh!

“A comprehensive training covering the most important fundamentals of M&E. Very well-structured too,” latest M&E f Results course participant.

This July, we once again held our summer Monitoring and Evaluation for Results course on the Brighton seafront. 16 participants came together to learn about current and widely-used M&E approaches, and practice M&E methods. Like many of IMA’s open courses, the multiple diversity is what strikes you most. 11 nationalities were represented: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Tajikistan, South Korea, US and UK. The broad spectrum of M&E experience spanned from minimal M&E exposure to decades of experience. Participants came from different institutional bodies: government, private sector, INGOs and donor agencies. Their current work focus areas include malaria, nutrition, narcotics and law enforcement, banking, peace-building and multi-sectoral programmes, both at project/community and strategic/regional levels. We feel this diversity is a rich environment for learning, sharing, challenging each other’s mind-sets and re-thinking patterns and behaviour. Our training design and facilitation approach builds on this richness as we worked with participants’ live projects as case studies; ran peer support sessions; and matched demand for input on certain topics with offers of experience from those who wanted to share.

Participants were particularly keen to learn about Evaluations: how to choose methods and approaches; how to commission and manage evaluations; how best to use evaluation findings. Everyone really appreciated the hands-on data gathering fieldwork with a young women’s group supported by the TDC. In groups, they then used the data to work through a theory of change process and develop theories of change for TDC’s work with young women in Brighton. The practical data gathering exercise is always one of the highlights of our 10-day course. The focus on purposive adult learning and application of new skills is another of our key concerns. Participants clarified their learning objectives at the start, and identified their organisational drivers, referring to these as the course progressed. Daily journaling and reflection in different formats helped to embed individual learning and support participants in thinking through actual application of concepts and methods learned.

 “The programme was a very rewarding experience; the faculty and wealth of resources was incredible” - latest M&E f Results course participant.

In our fast changing global context, there’s a great space of possibilities for how leadership is perceived and exercised, and scope to approach leadership thinking and concepts from different angles. Although traditional leadership and management models still have a place, for us to reach the SDG’s we must enquire into what is now required of leadership – in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, and how we can be part of expressing fitting leadership.   

Two qualities of fitting leadership are relational and emotional skills. Leaders who develop these skills are able to mediate and create safe spaces and honest conversations that can make a positive difference.

When relationships, emotions, values and identities are taken into account, what is thought to be an objective need with a rational solution often turns into a much more complex field. The more we look at these relational and emotional aspects, the more we are able to flex our leadership and managerial styles and contribute to deeper organisational and social changes.

This May, we once again headed to Brussels, to the welcoming training space at MSF Belgium to run our Knowledge Management (KM) course. Working with practitioners from INGOs, the UN and the private sector we embarked on a five-day journey that explored KM content, practice, personal beliefs and values, and Brussels sites! We even learned how to make paper origami frogs!

We very much believe that our participatory course is a journey: a journey for each participant to develop their own sense of KM direction for their organisation. Starting with key concepts, we slowly open our eyes to a very broad, conceptual understanding of the function of KM, and then we zoom in on key practices and tools, supporting strategy development. Our journey provides inputs on KM fundamentals; making a case for KM; KM organisational assessments; organisations as networks and core KM tools and practices. To complement, we support participants to work collaboratively on the costs and benefits of (not) doing KM; fostering an enabling KM environment; maximising KM opportunities; working with KM champions and developing KM intentions and plans. All the while tapping into current thinking and providing resources. And we love to invite IMA KM alumni to the course to share their experiences, thus building stronger connections between practitioners.

“Honestly, one of the best courses I’ve attended. Both, content and facilitation very great” - latest KM course participant.

The coastal areas of Sudan contain some of the best examples of coral reefs. Alongside ecosystem services, these areas provide sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Balancing these uses needs careful management which can be provided with an Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) a topic that IMA has been engaged with for many years. We are now working with UNIDO and the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) on ‘Building institutional capacities for the sustainable management of the marine fishery in the Red Sea State, phase II’.  This aims to consolidate and further strengthen institutional capacities for the operation and maintenance of a Fishery Statistics System (FSS) and the development and implementation of Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) plans for 2 key species.

In April 2019 the first input took place, an EAFM LEAD high level consultation in Port Sudan, Red Sea State, for leaders, executives and decision-makers (LEADers) to understand EAFM implementation at various levels of government and across sectors. Participants included a mosaic of government, NGO’s, research bodies, and local co-operatives. Using a mix of presentations, video, animations, discussions and interactive brain storming, we covered why we need EAFM, what is currently taking place, linking EAFM plans to policy management actions national, provincial and district long term plans. The EAFM management cycle and planning process, and the importance of effective governance frameworks supported by a fisheries management infrastructure were introduced. To conclude, next steps were decided, and participants were encouraged to support their colleagues, influence their leaders, and leaders of other sectors to develop capacity in EAFM and to agree on next steps, including action plans. We look forward to the development of this project!

For those of you who are interested in EAFM, you can read more on the EAFM learn website. There is a link to a free online course, a toolkit, and training materials.

It is always a pleasure working at IMA International when you meet up once again with our open course training Alumni, and an even extra pleasure to be invited to provide a tailor made training for their organisations! This is how were asked to provide a one day Leadership and Change Management workshop for Heads and Managers of different units of the Social Marketing Company (known as SMC). SMC provides products and support for family planning and reproductive health, diarrheal disease management, child health and nutrition, female hygiene, HIV/STI prevention and referral of suspected TB cases with the overall aim to better the health and wellbeing of women, children, families and society in Bangladesh.

This workshop was to understand leadership behaviours and functions of leaders in organizations. Participants were particularly interested in gaining information on the different aspects of change management and the critical role managers and leaders play in a changing environment. The agenda was developed with full consultation with the SMC HR team in Dhaka who had great clarity of the perceived needs of the participants, with the objectives of building on the natural ability to lead and manage, thinking strategically about roles, exploration on how to motivate and influence others through change, and development of personal development plans.

A great success of this day was that Senior Leadership were present during much of the day inspiring, supporting and challenging participants. They visibly took ownership of the process, with plans for follow up mentoring support as part of this training workshop. This mentoring was offered to participants working in small groups and focused on similar outcomes from the training day content. The expectation is that it should help participants move from their positive reaction and learning from the training day to some sort of behaviour change affecting the work they do. Ultimately, IMA International believes that is what all training and development should focus on, a positive change in the way we work, and relate to each other.

'It was a really good training, Chris is a very good resource person’ Rokibul Hasan Khan, Head of HR, SMC

‘Excellent facilitation for such an excellent training session’ Md. Mosheir Rahman