Alternative dispute resolution has grown quickly across Africa through court-annexed mediation, commercial arbitration, community mediation committees and sector ombuds schemes. Yet many of these mechanisms still report only the number of cases filed. Without evidence on how long matters take, what they cost users, whether agreements are honoured and whether women and marginalised groups can reach them, it is hard to defend funding, improve quality or build public confidence.

The Monitoring and Evaluation of Arbitration, Mediation & Dispute Resolution Training Course gives participants a complete results-based approach for this field. It begins with the logic of a dispute resolution scheme and a theory of change, then moves to indicator design, baselines and targets, case tracking systems and data quality. Participants examine tools for measuring user experience, procedural fairness, neutral performance and settlement durability, and look at formative, process and impact evaluation designs suited to justice work, including the OECD-DAC criteria.

Teaching combines short briefings with practical workshops on real scheme data. Participants leave with a monitoring framework, survey instruments and a reporting template they can apply straight away.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Develop a theory of change and results framework for an arbitration, mediation or ombuds scheme.
• Select indicators for access, timeliness, cost, fairness, settlement and compliance.
• Design case management and tracking tools that capture consistent, quality data.
• Construct user satisfaction surveys and exit interview guides for dispute resolution users.
• Review the performance of neutrals and administrators using agreed quality standards.
• Analyse results by gender, disability, location and case type to detect barriers.
• Plan process, outcome and impact evaluations of justice programmes.
• Present findings in reports and dashboards that lead to decisions.

The course is relevant to those who run, fund, oversee or evaluate dispute resolution services, including:

• Administrators and registrars of arbitration and mediation centres
• Judiciary court-annexed mediation coordinators
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning officers in rule of law programmes
• Legal aid and paralegal programme managers
• Ombudsman and complaints office staff
• Community mediation and peace committee coordinators
• Donor and development partner justice sector advisers
• Practising arbitrators, mediators and lawyers who lead quality initiatives
• Researchers and evaluators of governance and justice programmes

Delegates complete the course with outputs that can be put to work in their organisation:

• A results framework and indicator reference sheet for a dispute resolution scheme.
• A case tracking template with data definitions and quality checks.
• A user feedback questionnaire and interview guide.
• A neutral performance review checklist.
• An outline evaluation plan with questions, methods and timeline.
• A one-page dashboard layout for board and donor reporting.

The workshop is applied and based on realistic scheme material:

• Facilitated clinics where each delegate drafts parts of a framework for their own scheme
• Spreadsheet exercises on sample case and survey data
• Critique of real evaluation terms of reference
• Role-play of exit interviews and feedback sessions
• Group presentation of findings to a mock board

Participants who attend the full programme and complete the practical work receive a Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy and accredited for CPD.