- 02 Oct, 2024
- Darlington Senoga
- No comment
From Learner to Leader: My Path at the Uganda Evaluation Week 2024
Hello, I am Henry Nsobya, a Young and Emerging Evaluator (YEE) affiliated with the Uganda Evaluation Association. I am super excited to share my story especially after I attended with full participation during this year’s awesome #UEW2024 conference that was held at the Uganda Management Institute in Kampala, Uganda. Indeed, it was a very exciting event that provided me opportunities for networking with senior evaluation practitioners and academicians, and I admit that it was a learning event that will remain forever memorable as an emerging professional in the field of monitoring and evaluation. I met both Ugandans and International practitioners and this was a great time that enabled me to share knowledge and learn from a wide spectrum of a community of practice and experiences.
This conference took place, exactly at the time that was most precious for me to get grounded in the field of monitoring and evaluation, just after I had completed my Post Graduate Diploma studies in Monitoring and Evaluation in June 2024 at the Uganda Management Institute, Kampala Campus. It was the most precious time because while I got through towards the end of the grueling final exams in June 2024, the major question on my mind was that, how exactly can I break the ice into professional networks of monitoring and evaluation practitioners and this conference played a great role in providing the right platform to my worries. Importantly, having joined and subscribed to the Young and Emerging Evaluators’ platform about six months earlier before the conference, it was a great advantage that earned my way to attending the conference and so, I strongly appreciate the leadership of the Uganda Evaluation Association for maintaining an active structure which is important for ensuring that young and emerging evaluators can be able to mobilize themselves and take part in activities implemented by the community of evaluation practitioners, both in Uganda and abroad.
To deep dive into my feelings about the conference, I was astonished at my selection and chuckled as I accepted to take up the role of the coordinator of the team for YEEs, who were to form part of the organizing committee for the conference. This was indeed a moment to demonstrate sharp-edge leadership, team player and commitment skills, and it was amazingly beautiful that I took on the task although with a daunting feeling, because it was my first time to be part of an organizing team for a conference. Importantly, I was aware of my strong capability to demonstrate the required skills but the lack of experience in planning and executing a conference event was an anxiety factor.
Thanks to Mr. Eugene Swinnerstone and the YEE President Shakira Kakungulu for their mentorship support that enabled me to excel in executing this role. I feel strongly motivated and empowered because this role raised my enthusiasm and leadership skills which are important for undertaking evaluation activities and career development.
The most exciting panels included the following. 1) Catalyzing Change: Partnerships in learning strategies for Climate Action and Resilience by Ms. Akullo Patricia Roy, Social Safeguards & Gender Expert – MoFPED. 2) Demystifying evaluation landscape in the global south: Achievements, Low-hanging fruits, Challenges and Way forward. I specifically got inspiration from these two panels because they presented reflections that were depicting day to day scenarios and positively improved my resolve to participate and to take action as a patriotic Ugandan citizenry both to champion climate sustainability and as I grow my career as this is one of the ways I can support the development of my country Uganda and Africa as a continent. Furthermore, it was exceedingly exciting to have an opportunity to present my abstract paper to the audience entitled, “An exploration of the unique challenges hindering effective integration of evaluation findings during strategic planning and management, a case study of an emerging NGO in Eastern Uganda.” Interestingly, this was a great moment because I received comments and recommendations from the audience on how to improve the concept and design of my proposed study.
Apart from attending the conference as a participant, I actively took on the rapporteur role for the conference sessions. This was an awesome role that improved my analytical skills especially important for report writing. It was such a joyous undertaking to rapporteur sessions and to participate during the conference report writing tasks and this greatly improved my writing skills. I found writing conference proceedings not only interesting and enjoyable because it was also an opportunity to further comprehend the topics discussed. At the same time, it came with lots of challenges such as demand for maximum dedication to working for longer hours of the day and being critical. However, these challenges provided a lot of motivation for learning and experience.
As I draw towards the end of my blog, exploring my experiences during the UEW2024 conference, I want to emphasize that this was a very memorable opportunity whose impact I believe will have fruitful results to support my career development. Importantly, the most immediate reward from my participation during the conference is that I have already experienced better understanding of international M&E concepts and paradigms, and I have been initiated into the community of evaluation practitioners’ networks and so forth. This is evidence to attest that the UEW2024 conference perfectly fitted well with my inspirations for career growth as a YEE in Uganda and Africa.
Finally, I want to thank all the sponsors especially the AfDB, UNICEF, Clear-AA, just to mention a few because our participation as YEEs was made possible because of the generosity of the sponsors. Special gratitude also goes to the Uganda Evaluation Association (UEA) secretariat, the YEE president and the Secretariat Organizing committee for entrusting us as YEEs with such important responsibilities and believing in our capability. I know the future of the evaluation profession in Uganda is bright and this is my confidence. Last but not least, fellow YEEs who provided warm support for teamwork and successful implementation of the conference. I am hoping that you will find this blog an interesting piece for reading.
Kind regards,
Henry Nsobya| Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/henry-nsobya
