Autumn Update 2015

It’s autumn and time for a blog update from me.  What is exciting for our web page is that Amy is also writing a blog and bringing in her insights and perspectives.  The topic of using social media in extension and its evaluation, for example, is an area that there is growing interest – not just in Australia – but world-wide.  She also has a twitter feed (@amyrsamson) – and I think I am going have to get more active in that area as well!  We are certainly using social media (Whatsapp) to get regular updates on Amy’s daughter Evie’s milestones – first crawl, first word (nana) and first standing up in the cot!  We are also using this app in some projects in which I am involved – with great effect.

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Back to basics and telling stories

While writing this blog I thought how nice it was to feel the work cogs turning again and to read something other than parenting 101 blogs. Not recommended by the way, they have a frightening habit of making you feel like you’re doing it all wrong! In my short life as a mum (all nine months of it) I’ve learned that there is no perfect way to do anything but as long as you and baby are happy and thriving – you’re doing it right!

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Merry Christmas!

December finds us back in Canada for a family Christmas – the full complement of three children, spouses and three grandchildren! This time in New Brunswick where our daughter has family and has moved back to from their last posting in Quebec Province. From 30+degrees C in Toowoomba to -1 today and a nice covering of snow. The picture shows me at Hopewell Rocks – just outside of Moncton – remarkable because of the high tides and flower pot shaped rocks – and this time with a dusting of snow! It’s the seasonal contrasts that makes it all so exciting – between hemispheres and over the annual cycle.It’s been another full year with new projects and some new directions. From program reviews, project evaluations, visits to New Zealand and new M&E platforms for cotton, sugar and dairy. There has been on-going interest and work in developing M&E frameworks/guides for organisations and large programs. I enjoy this type of work because it establishes the basis for on-going rigorous M&E and provides a way for organisations and programs to better “tell their story”. There is remarkable work being done in the RD&E agricultural and natural resource management sectors – most of it under-reported and hence not understood.

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Spring, North Queensland, and M&E

September ushers Spring in the Southern Hemisphere – and time for a blog update!  In Toowoomba, after a relatively dry summer and then winter, we are hoping for some early spring rains – as is much of the farming lands across Queensland.

Winter and summer are good times to visit North Queensland, and August found us up in Townsville. This provided us with an opportunity to build on our on-going monitoring and evaluation support of reef and beef projects with DAFF (Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) – and see what we had all learned from the last three years with the M&E and what could be modified to even better meet future needs.  The challenge is to avoid duplication of many M&E demands and reporting, avoid collecting data that isn’t used in decision-making and ensure that critical data is captured well.  It is good to work with project teams who proactively work through such challenges and come up with solutions.

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