Guide to Its Use
Chapter Four: Building Capability for Effective MSC
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- Building the capacity of the MSC ‘champions’
- Building the capacity of the staff to participate fully in MSC
- Considering resources and time required
Chapter Four: Building Capability for Effective MSCThis chapter looks at the resources an organisation may need to implement MSC. We consider the following strategies:
Building the capacity of the MSC ‘champions’In Chapter 2, Step 1 (Getting started and raising interest), we discussed the benefits of having people to actively champion MSC within an organisation. These champions can:
While it helps if the champions already have some knowledge of qualitative methods and participatory techniques, our experience suggests that the most important attributes for champions are enthusiasm and interest in MSC. Good facilitation skills are also useful. Champions need to develop a sound understanding of MSC so they can address the inevitable questions. This knowledge can be acquired in various ways. An inexpensive approach is to read some of the existing documents on MSC (such as this Guide) and to experiment with MSC on a small scale. Many of the organisations that now use MSC began this way. This learning can be accelerated with some basic training in MSC. Rick and Jess are currently planning a ‘train the trainers’ course for MSC (see MSC website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MostSignificantChanges/ for dates and locations). Another option is to have a consultant come to the program office and work with the champions to introduce MSC to the organisation, as well as helping the champions to build their knowledge base. Other options include staff going on secondments to other organisation that are more experienced in using MSC If one person assumes leadership for MSC in an organisation, we strongly recommend building the MSC capacity of a second or third person as well. We know of several instances where implementation of MSC has fallen through when a champion has moved to another job. Building the capacity of the staff to participate fully in MSCGetting project staff to understand MSC is a frequent stumbling block. While MSC is relatively simple in practice, for many people it is a radically different way to monitor and evaluate. It is often implemented in cross-cultural and bilingual contexts, where communication of the most simple things can be a challenge. To overcome this hurdle, give some thought to how MSC may best be communicated in your program context, and how participants can acquire enough knowledge and skills to be able to participate. Chapter 2 Step 1 listed some metaphors that can help to describe the role of MSC. There are probably two main options available to building capability of program teams in MSC, one is through training, and the other is through mentoring and practice. In most cases, one person has taken an active role in disseminating the technique across the organisation. This may or may not involve that person training the program staff. How to train people in MSC. In our experience, training generally consists of one to three days of in-house training led by an external consultant or an internal monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist. Although there are no foolproof recipes for how to train people in MSC, we can offer you some tips.
Practice and improvement. If training is not an option, it may be possible to implement MSC by trial and error. For example, asking staff to document stories and providing them with feedback about how they went, along with examples (the selected stories), will give them a good idea of how to proceed. MSC has an in-built improvement cycle, so it can work without training. However, initial training can avoid much of the confusion and frustration that program staff sometimes feel when they are thrown into MSC without being fully orientated. If you choose the path of practice and improvement rather than training, it helps to have someone with a very good understanding of MSC who can answer questions, address any confusion and design systems to minimise frustration. Victoria, Australia – stories improved gradually over time Staff were given no training in MSC, we ran a number of short presentations to staff so that they understood what MSC was, and ran a pilot – but no-one was trained. The first stories were not so good, many were more like testimonials. But over time, the feedback helped staff have a clearer idea about what it was all about and the stories gradually improved, until they were all change focused. (Jess Dart, 2000) 
Considering resources and time requiredThere is no doubt that MSC is time-consuming. As well as the time required to collect the stories, regular meetings must be held to select the most significant stories. This is the most frequently voiced concern at the start of MSC implementation. Once MSC is going smoothly, it should become quicker and more streamlined. Organisations often choose to lengthen the reporting period after a year or so, which also reduces the amount of time the process consumes. In 2004, ADRA Laos became the first organisation to analyse the amount of time taken to conduct MSC. The following text box and two tables present a picture of a time-intensive venture. However, our experience is that MSC is not always so time-intensive. The time taken depends on the nature of the program and the intended uses of the MSC process. Laos – estimation of the time spent on MSC The time costs of MSC were primarily in the investment in training for staff and secondly in monthly meetings and translation. The actual collection of stories themselves is not particularly time-intensive. Below two tables demonstrate the time-resources consumed during the pilot project period. Table 1 documents the total person-days or person hours for office staff in Vientiane and project staff in the field and Table 2 gives the average time spent per participant in each location. It should be recognised that this average does not really represent the reality of the situation, as some staff members invested a far greater amount of time in the MSC process than others. In addition to the time documented below, most ADRA Australia staff attended a one hour selection meeting and spent time reading the set of stories. (Julia Willets, 2004) TABLES SHOULD BE MADE EASIER TO FOLLOW. EDITING SUGGESTIONS ARE NOTED ON HARD COPY Table 1: Time-costs for MSC activities in pilot project expressed as total person-hours or person days C T  able 2: Time-costs for MSC activities in pilot project expressed as average days or hours Directory: docs docs -> Application for acem docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. What is a Register Of Merit docs -> Protecting the rights of the child in the context of migration docs -> United Nations E/C. 12/Esp/5 docs -> 9th May 1950 the schuman declaration docs -> Getting To Outcomes® in Services for Homeless Veterans 10 Steps for Achieving Accountability Download 451.21 Kb. Share with your friends:
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