Learning the "ins and outs" of sound procurement process

Workshop description

The Near East, North Africa, and Europe Division held a 5 day Procurement Training in Marrakech, Morocco from 19-23 November 2012. It brought together 30 participants, including representatives from IFAD-Funded projects in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza & West Bank. Project procurement officers and project staff involved in procurement, all actively participated in the training providing examples from real life experience.

Professional procurement specialists Mr. George Jadoun and Ms. Blerina Pogace from the International Training Centre of the International Labour organization (ITC/ILO) prepared and delivered the training material in Arabic based on IFAD procedures and drawing from practical experiences in the region.

Objectives and outcomes

The main objective of the workshop was to provide a knowledge sharing platform and training on procurement, in the NENA countries.  More specifically, the workshop aimed to:

• Provide an overview of the procurement process, from planning, identification of needs and methods, to the tendering process. 
• Familiarise participants with IFAD requirements and guidelines on procurement.
• Better understand and apply country specific procedures while offering a platform to share with the participants’ best practices in procurement

To achieve the objectives of the workshop, the sessions were designed to be interactive with each country team expected to briefly present the issues they are facing with regards to this field. In this context, the various teams also suggested possible solutions for improvements.

The expected outcomes of the workshop were:

• Improved effectiveness of the functions discharged by project staff;
• Improved implementation performance with regards to procurement;  and 
• Resolution and clarification of recurring issues during project implementation.

Average overall rating by participants for training relevance, effectiveness, quality of delivery and impact was 86% (this includes 100% rating for quality and relevance and 97% for objectives met, post-training application and overall satisfaction)