By Abdulazeez Sani Labaran
The Gombe Network of Civil Society Organisations GONET has trained 32 member organisations on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning to strengthen evidence-based programming and accountability across the state.
The capacity-building workshop, organised by GONET EXCO, held in Gombe and drew participants from civil society groups working in health, education, women and youth development.
Participants were taken through M&E principles, Theory of Change, Logical Framework development, indicator setting, data collection tools, and the application of M&E tools, data and learning framework for results tracking.
Speaking at the closing of the training on Thursday, *Ambassador Ibrahim Yusuf, Chairman of GONET*, said the intervention was critical to align civil society with Gombe State’s M&E reforms.
*“A lot of our organisations are doing transformational work at the grassroots, but many cannot measure or report impact in a way that government and partners understand. This training has given 32 CSOs the capacity to track outcomes, not just activities,”* Yusuf said.
He added that the training aligns with Gombe State’s domestication of the National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy, for which the state was selected as a pilot with support from UNICEF. The state government launched its M&E Policy in October 2024.
*“When CSOs speak the same M&E language as government, it improves transparency, strengthens collaboration, and ensures that projects deliver real value to communities,”* he added.
Some participants described the training as practical and timely, noting that it would improve their donor reporting, project design, and engagement with government M&E structures.
GONET promise to provide post-training mentoring to ensure the organisations institutionalise the M&E systems.