Title: Foundations of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning in Public Health (MEL)
Keywords: Learning
Health indicators
Planning and programming
Monitoring and evaluation
Management
Country: Netherlands
Institution: The Netherlands - Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam
Course coordinator: Dr Sandra Alba
Date start: 2025-01-30
Date end: 2025-02-14
About duration and dates: 2.5 weeks (12 days); Application deadline is 2 months before the start date of the course. If space is available and no visa required, students can apply until 4 weeks prior to the first course day.
Classification: advanced optional
Mode of delivery: Face to face
Course location: KIT Institute
PO Box 95001, 1090 HA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31-20-5688256
Website: www.kit.nl
ECTS credit points: 3 ECTS credits
SIT: 84 SIT:
45 hours plenary class sessions, 3 hour flipped classroom; 6 hours group work (case study); 3 hour group presentation,
27 hours self-study (including the exam)
Language: English
Description: At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss and develop the intervention logic, including indicators, established targets for public health initiatives, distinguishing between primary and secondary data sources (including but not limited to Health Management Information Systems (HMIS))
2. Develop a monitoring plan that adheres to best practices and ethical standards for data collection in public health
3. Use Microsoft Excel proficiently for fundamental data management, analysis, and visualization tasks ()
4. Appraise reporting requirements against operational learning needs as well as information needs across diverse stakeholders, recognizing the importance of feedback loops and adaptive management in enhancing program effectiveness and impact
Assessment Procedures: At the end of the course, there will be a 3 hours summative individual written exam (on-site) consisting of:
- Short essay questions guiding students to critique an existing M&E plan for a given intervention (50%)
- Analysis in Excel of a dataset to set baseline data for selected indicators (50%)

Students receive their marks within 3 weeks after the exam. This is followed by a plenary feedback session on the exam.
The pass mark is 6/10.
If students have a mark < 5,0, they can do a re-sit within one month after the exam.
An example of the assessment task can be found in the Annex.
Content: ● Intervention logic, indicators, and targets for public health initiatives
● Primary vs. secondary data sources and the role of HMIS
● Development of precise data collection tools, including electronic methods
● Microsoft Excel for data management, analysis, and visualization
● data entry protocols, basic data quality checks, descriptive statistical functions, pivot tables, charts and scatterplots
● Tailoring reporting content and format to diverse stakeholders' needs
● Feedback loops and adaptive management strategies
Methods: Lectures, interactive group discussions, online forum discussions, group work, debates, case studies and self-study:
contact hours:
● 45 hours including lectures, exercises, group work, interactive group discussions, debates and role plays building on participant experiences
● 3 hours flipped-classroom: participants are requested to read guidelines for ethical conduct in evaluations and test their understanding with an formative MCQ test. Thereafter, they are requested to reflect on how the guidelines could be used to tackle a real life ethical dilemma and discuss their recommendations in an online forum with other participants. The discussion will be moderated by the course coordinator who will help (?) flesh-out the main recommendations arising from the forum discussion
● 6 hours: Group work will consist of developing a dissemination product for a case study evaluation (radio interview, infographic and policy brief) with tailored dissemination goals and message for a given audience (community, donors and policy-makers respectively)
● 3 hours: Participant groups will present their dissemination products to their class colleagues who will critically appraise each other. The discussion will be moderated by the course coordinator who will link back main elements of the group work and discussion to the theory covered in class.
Prerequisites: ● Bachelor’s degree or equivalent academic training in either medicine or another field related to health care, such as health sciences, health economics, social sciences, or nursing
● A minimum of three years of health-related work experience in health systems, not limited to (organisation of) individual patient care
● English proficiency at the level of TOEFL 5.5 or IELTS 6.5 (certificate is not required)Computer and internet literacy; the participant should be able to use a computer access to wifi networks, and working-level understanding of Microsoft Office software (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Adobe (PDF). Students will be introduced to the e-learning platform.
Attendance: Minimum 12, maximum 25 students; The number of tropEd students is not limited.
Selection: First come, first served
Fees: € 1,980 (tropEd € 1,782)
€ 1,584 (early bird. if you pay more than 3 months before the start date)
Scholarships: There are no current specific scholarships for this course, for latest updates see
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in EC telco in July 2024. This accreditation is valid until July 2029
Email Address: s.alba@kit.nl
Date Of Record Creation: 2024-07-19 03:48:33 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release: 2024-07-19 08:57:10 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked: 2024-07-19 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified: 2024-07-19 08:57:10 (W3C-DTF)