USAID POVERTY ASSESSMENT TOOLS

IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING

“A Training of Trainers”

Washington, DC

Academy for Education Development

April 6-9, 2010

Sponsor: This training is funded by USAID as part of the FIELD-LWA project, and provided by The IRIS Center – University of Maryland, USA.
Facilitators: Brian Beard, Btissam El Hassar, Margaret Richards, Don Sillers (USAID)

Participant organizations: Participants should have experience in training, quantitative survey implementation, and/or impact or poverty assessment. It is preferable that each participant in attendance also has experience with sampling and statistical analysis.

Computer Access: Each of the participating organizations should bring a laptop if possible. Having a laptop is especially important on Days 2-4, when participants will be practicing sampling strategies, learning the EPI statistical program, and creating a sample implementation plan.

Workshop Goals

By the end of the course, participants will:

  1. Achieve a basic understanding of the legislative mandates for the Poverty Assessment Tools (PATs), USAID’s goals for developing the tools and the requirements for reporting. Understand the conceptual framework and process for developing indicator-based tools that are being used to assess the poverty level of clients.
  1. Be familiar with the features of, and know how to use properly, the quantitative poverty assessment tools.
  1. Be familiar with the implications of the gender of the respondent and the interviewer being the same or different, the gender-impacted nature of intra-household transfers, expenses and income, and learn other sensitivities to gender issues to be included in the process of data collection.
  1. Know the steps to be taken to develop a sampling frame for implementing a PAT.
  1. Develop a basic knowledge of how to input data, combine files, and generate basic results in the EPI Info program.
  1. Learn how to create a realistic implementation plan to fully understand the PAT implementation process and be able to teach this process to others. The goal of refining the sample design and creating an overall plan is given strong emphasis in this workshop. The expectation is that participants can return to their organizations with a clear plan on paper that includes all the steps to be taken, the types of personnel and resources needed, preliminary dates, and all the elements required to teach others how to carry out the assessment.
  1. Understand what responsibilities and skills will be required of the persons filling each job assignment. Determine the time that will be required to train the people in each position in order to teach others to develop a draft training agenda.
  1. Become familiar with additional resources to assist both trainers and implementers of the PAT. Know how to use and where to find the Manual, USB drive, PAT Help Desk, Poverty Tools web page, and online PAT training.

Notes on the Agenda

  1. A Manual will be furnished to provide additional materials and be used as a reference guide during the implementation process. Participants should plan time each evening to read sections that will be needed during the training the following day.
  1. Most training blocks last about one and a half hours. The fifth block at the end of each day is for review and orientation to the training materials to be read in the evening.

Workshop Agenda

Day One: Tuesday

Introduction to USAID Reporting Requirements, the Poverty Assessment Tools and the Implementation Process

Block 1: 9:00-10:45am – Introduction to Week of Training and Content

  • Welcome and introductionsactivity
  • Discussion of workshop goals and overview of agenda, expectations and resource materials

Introduction to Content of Workshop:

  • What is poverty? What is poverty as defined by the legislation?
  • Goals of US Congressional Legislation and USAID Mandate
  • Reporting requirements and procedures

Break: 10:45-11:00 am

Block 2: 11:00-12:30pm – Development of the USAID Tools and Tool Implementation Process

  • Overview of the development of the USAID tools
  • Review definition of “very poor”
  • Discuss definition of “household”
  • Overview of the implementation process and requirements

Lunch: 12:30-1:30 pm

Block 3: 1:30-3:00 pm –Review of Tools

  • Overview of PAT questionnaire
  • Question by Question - work in groups to carefully inspect a PAT questionnaire

Break: 3:00-3:15 pm

Block 4: 3:15-4:45 pm -Job Descriptions for the Different Types of Personnel

  • Review the standard job descriptions for implementation team
  • Activity: developing job descriptions
  • Small-group role play involving team member roles
  • Return to group and discuss lessons learned

Block 5: 4:45-5:00pm – Review Training Session of Day 1

  • Review of key lessons from the day
  • Assign material to read for the following day
  • Participant feedback / questions

Day Two: Wednesday

Sampling Interviewing

Please bring your laptop.

Block 1: 9:00-10:45am–Quantitative Sampling

  • Volunteer reviews activities of previous day
  • Instruction and practice in sampling

Break: 10:45-11:00 am

Block 2: 11:00-12:30 pm - Continue working on Sampling

  • Example Sampling Plan
  • Continue sampling presentation

Lunch: 12:30-1:30 pm

Block 3: 1:30-3:15 pm– Introduction to Interviewing

  • Volunteers participate in interviewing role play
  • Discuss interviewing techniques
  • Discuss how gender differences can affect the interview process
  • Discuss techniques for training interviewers

Break: 3:15-3:30 pm

Block 4: 3:30-4:45 pm–Practice and Discussion of Interviewing

  • Practice using a tool in groups of three (Client, Interviewer, and Observer)
  • Return to group and discuss lessons learned
  • Discuss importance of Focus Group Discussions during interviewer training

Block 5: 4:45-5:00pm – Ending Session Day 2

  • Review of key lessons from the day
  • Assign material to read for the following day
  • Participant feedback / questions

Day Three: Thursday

Quality Control, EPI Infoand Implementation

Please bring your laptop.

Block 1: 9:00-10:45 am - Quality Control & Designing and Implementation Plan

  • Volunteer reviews activities of previous day
  • Levels of quality control and ways to implement it
  • Creating a Quality Control system
  • Examples of formats and contents of implementation plan

Break: 10:45-11:00 am

Block 2: 11:00-12:30pm– Introduction to EPI Info

  • Basic orientation to the program and its commands
  • How to input data
  • How to clean the data
  • How to combine files
  • How to prepare the basic analysis required by USAID

Lunch: 12:30-1:30 pm

Block 3: 1:30-3:15 pm – Continue EPI Info

  • Continue with Epi Info instructions
  • Break-out groups to continue working on sampling, Epi Info, and/or implementation planning

Break: 3:15-3:30 pm

Block 4: 3:30-4:45pm – Continue EPI exercises / implementation plans

  • Participants given option to work on Implementation plan or Epi Info exercises

Block 5: 4:45-5:00pm – Ending Session Day 3

  • Review of key lessons from the day
  • Assign material to read for the following day
  • Participant feedback / questions

Day Four: Friday

Please bring your laptop.

Block 1: 9:00-10:15 am – Continue working on Epi / Sampling / Implementation Plans,Presentations of Implementation Plans

  • Volunteer reviews activities of previous day
  • Individual help
  • Group / individual presentations

Break: 10:15-10:30 am

Block 2: 10:30-12:30 pm – Final Review and Wrap-Up

  • JeoPATy
  • Review of available resources
  • Course evaluation
  • Concluding remarks / final questions

Updated: 3/5/20101|Page