Workshops & Facilitation

A practical guide for educators, trainers, and facilitators who want to run workshops using ImpactMojo content.

Planning a Workshop with ImpactMojo

ImpactMojo gives you a complete curriculum — courses, games, labs, and handouts — that you can assemble into workshops for your team, students, or community. You do not need to build materials from scratch.

Here is how to plan:

1. Pick your learning objective. What should participants be able to do after the workshop? (Design a Theory of Change? Understand RCT basics? Analyze gender data?)

2. Choose your track. ImpactMojo organizes content into 6 learning tracks — MEL & Research, Economics & Policy, Gender & Equity, Governance & Society, Health & Wellbeing, and Communication & Data. Start with the track closest to your objective.

3. Select courses and modules. You do not need to teach an entire flagship course. Pick the 2–4 modules most relevant to your workshop goal.

4. Add a game. Games work best as energizers and as a way to introduce a concept through experience before you teach it formally.

5. Add a lab. Labs give participants a tangible output to take away. This is often the most valued part of a workshop.

6. Prepare handouts. Print the relevant handouts for participants. They serve as reference material during and after the workshop.

Sample Workshop Agendas

One-Day Workshop (6 hours)

Theme: Introduction to Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

Time	Activity	ImpactMojo Resource
9:00–9:30	Welcome, introductions, learning objectives	—
9:30–10:30	What is MEL? Core concepts and why it matters	MEL Flagship Course, Modules 1–2
10:30–10:45	Tea break	—
10:45–11:30	Public Good Game — experience collective action problems	Public Good Game
11:30–12:00	Debrief: connecting the game to program design	Facilitator-led discussion
12:00–1:00	Lunch	—
1:00–2:00	Theories of Change — concepts and South Asian examples	MEL Flagship Course, Module 2–3
2:00–3:00	Theory of Change Lab — build your own ToC	Theory of Change Lab
3:00–3:15	Tea break	—
3:15–3:45	Participants present their ToC frameworks	Group presentations
3:45–4:15	Indicators and measurement — key principles	MEL Flagship Course, Module 3
4:15–4:30	Wrap-up, reflection prompts, next steps	Reflection prompt handouts

Three-Day Workshop (18 hours)

Theme: Research Methods for Development Practitioners

Day 1 — Foundations

Time	Activity	Resource
9:00–10:30	Why research matters in development practice	Research Methods course, Modules 1–2
10:45–12:00	Research questions — how to ask the right questions	RQ Builder Lab
1:00–2:30	Quantitative methods overview	Research Methods course, Modules 3–4
2:45–4:00	Market Simulation Game + debrief on data and incentives	Market Simulation Game

Day 2 — Methods in Practice

Time	Activity	Resource
9:00–10:30	Qualitative methods — interviews, FGDs, observation	Research Methods course, Modules 5–6
10:45–12:00	Survey design workshop using handouts	Survey Design handouts
1:00–2:30	Mixed methods — when and how to combine approaches	Research Methods course, Module 7
2:45–4:00	Case study analysis in small groups	Dev Case Studies library

Day 3 — Application

Time	Activity	Resource
9:00–10:30	Research design lab — draft your study design	Research Design Lab
10:45–12:00	Ethics in development research	Research Methods course, Module 10
1:00–2:30	Peer review of research designs	Group work
2:45–4:00	Presentations, feedback, learning paths for continued study	Certificates + Learning Paths

Five-Day Workshop (30 hours)

Theme: Comprehensive MEL and Research Skills

A five-day workshop lets you cover more ground and give participants time to practice deeply.

• Days 1–2: MEL foundations — theory, frameworks, indicators, Theories of Change. Use the MEL flagship course (Modules 1–6), the Theory of Change Lab, and the Public Good Game.

• Day 3: Research methods — quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Use the Research Methods course, Survey Design handouts, and the RQ Builder Lab.

• Day 4: Data and analysis — data collection, data quality, basic analysis. Use the Data Literacy foundational course, the Dataverse for hands-on exploration, and the Prisoner's Dilemma game for a session on incentives and data integrity.

• Day 5: Application day — participants work on a capstone project using the labs, present to peers, and receive feedback. Issue certificates and set up continued learning paths.

Courses, Games, and Labs That Work Well Together

Here are tested combinations that reinforce each other:

Topic	Course	Game	Lab	Handouts
Program design	MEL for Development	Public Good Game	Theory of Change Lab	ToC templates, Logframe guide
Research methods	Research Methods	Market Simulation	RQ Builder Lab	Survey design checklist
Economics	Development Economics	Prisoner's Dilemma, Market Sim	—	Key economics concepts
Gender analysis	Gender & WEE	Public Good Game (gendered framing)	—	Gender analysis frameworks
Data literacy	Data Literacy	—	Data exploration via Dataverse	Data visualization handouts

Using Handouts in Facilitation

ImpactMojo's 400+ handouts are designed to be printed and distributed. Here are tips for using them well:

• Before a session: Give participants a handout as pre-reading. This levels the playing field so everyone starts with shared vocabulary.

• During a session: Use handouts as worksheets. Participants can write notes, fill in frameworks, and refer back to definitions.

• After a session: Handouts serve as take-home reference material. Participants can revisit concepts without needing to find the specific course module.

• Printing tips: Open any handout in your browser. Press Ctrl+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+P (Mac). Handouts are formatted to print cleanly on A4 paper. You can also save as PDF to share digitally.

Group Exercises Using Games

Games are the most engaging part of any ImpactMojo workshop. Here is how to run them effectively:

Setup

• Each participant needs a device (phone, tablet, or laptop) with a browser.

• Alternatively, project the game on a screen and have participants make decisions as teams (works well for groups larger than 15).

• No internet is needed if participants have the PWA installed.

Running the Game

1. Introduce the scenario briefly. Do not explain the theory yet — let participants discover it.

2. Play the game. Allow 15–20 minutes for most games. Let participants make choices without too much guidance.

3. Record outcomes. Ask participants to note their decisions and results.

Debrief (This Is Where Learning Happens)

The debrief is more important than the game itself. Budget at least as much time for debrief as for play.

• "What strategy did you use? Why?"

• "What happened when everyone acted in their own interest?"

• "Did cooperation emerge? What made it possible — or prevented it?"

• "Where do you see this dynamic in your own work?"

Then connect the game experience to the formal concept (public goods theory, game theory, market failures) using the relevant course module.

Tips for Mixed-Ability Groups

Development workshops often bring together participants with very different backgrounds — a PhD researcher sitting next to a field coordinator with a high school education. ImpactMojo content is designed for this reality:

• Use foundational courses as pre-reading for participants who need more background. Share links a week before the workshop.

• Use ImpactLex to establish shared vocabulary. When a technical term comes up, point participants to the glossary definition in their language.

• Pair experienced and newer participants during lab exercises. The experienced person mentors; the newer person asks fresh questions.

• Use games as equalizers. In a game, everyone starts at the same point. A field worker's intuition about community dynamics is just as valuable as a researcher's theoretical knowledge.

• Offer handouts in multiple languages when your group includes participants more comfortable in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, or other languages.

Technology Requirements

ImpactMojo workshops have minimal technology requirements:

• Each participant needs: A device with a modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge). A smartphone is sufficient.

• Internet: Needed to load content initially. After that, flagship courses work offline via the PWA. For a fully offline workshop, have participants install the PWA beforehand.

• No accounts required: Participants can access all courses, games, labs, and handouts without signing up. Accounts are only needed for progress tracking and certificates.

• No special software: Everything runs in the browser. No downloads, no installations, no plugins.

• Projector (optional but recommended): Useful for demonstrating games and walking through course content as a group.

Preparing for Low-Connectivity Venues

If your workshop venue has unreliable internet:

1. Ask participants to install the ImpactMojo PWA on their devices before arriving.

2. Download and print handouts in advance.

3. Pre-load the specific games and labs you plan to use on a few devices as backup.

Post-Workshop: Certificates and Continued Learning

After the workshop, help participants continue their learning:

• Create accounts. Encourage participants to create free ImpactMojo accounts so their progress is tracked going forward.

• Set up learning paths. Point participants to the learning track most relevant to their role. A field coordinator might follow the MEL & Research track. A communications officer might follow Communication & Data.

• Earn certificates. Participants who complete a full flagship course receive a verifiable digital certificate (W3C Open Badges 3.0). This can be shared with employers or included in professional portfolios.

• Join the community. Share the ImpactMojo Telegram channel for ongoing discussions and peer support.

• Follow-up sessions. Consider scheduling monthly check-ins where participants discuss what they have applied from the workshop. Use reflection prompts from the courses as discussion starters.