Title:	Sexual and Reproductive health and Rights: Policy, Governance and Financing (SRHR POL)
Keywords:	Sexual and reproductive health and rights Planning and programming Health Policy Governance Financing
Country:	Netherlands
Institution:	The Netherlands - Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam
Course coordinator:	Anke van der Kwaak
Date start:	2025-05-12
Date end:	2025-05-27
About duration and dates:	Duration is 2,5 weeks. 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 Student Investment Hours Contact hours: 30 (24 hrs lectures, 2 hrs journal club, 2 hrs tutorials) Contact hours: 6 hrs (online) Self-study hours: 48 (30 hrs reading, 4 hrs home assignment preparation, 14 hrs writing assignment)
Language:	English
Description: By the end of the course students should be able to: ● Identify and discuss relevant international aid and trade agreements, development commitments and financial mechanisms that inform regional and national policies related to comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) ● Analyse policies, governance, human rights, financing structures, and identify implications for planning and managing SRHR responses by public and private actors. ● Perform an SRHR strategic policy review from a multi-stakeholder perspective, and communicate this in the form of a policy brief
Assessment Procedures: ● Participants will be assessed on a final individual paper (100%) (summative assessment). ● The final paper is a policy brief (2,000 words +/- 10%), addressing a specific SRHR-related policy issue. Students will be provided with two sessions of plenary tutoring support. Papers are read and assessed by one reader. In case of a fail a second reader will also assess the paper. ● The final paper needs to be submitted not later than on the last day of the course. Individual feedback is provided in writing. An online feedback session after grade release will be held for general feedback. ● Resit: Those students who fail the paper can resubmit the policy brief. Resubmissions can be made as per the program schedule of the academic calendar (announced in the study guide and online learning platform).Usually within one month of the reception of the result.
Content: The module covers the following contents: ● SRHR-related international agreements & development commitments ● SRHR-related policy analysis ● SRHR governance and accountability mechanisms ● Human rights, gender equity (and advocacy) for SRHR ● Role of the private sector in the field of SRHR ● Financial arrangements & public private mix for universal health coverage ● SRHR financing with a case study on abortion ● Role of the UN mechanisms in advocating for SRHR ● Aid and trade relations in health: aid effectiveness and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPs)
Methods: A variety of learning methods is used, most importantly: • Interactive lectures (24 hrs), including problem analysis activities, case studies, plenary and small group discussions, tutorials, • On-site e-learning includes interactive exercises, such as an online quiz and a role play/debate • One journal clubs session (2 hrs) , • group work mostly linked to the lectures • self-study (30 hrs of reading and 18 hrs work on assignments) The educational approach is based on the following social constructivist learning principles, specifically: ● Takes the knowledge and (working) experience of the participants as a starting point ● Is problem-oriented and is focused on the practical application of the course content ● Is competency based: that is aimed at improving the competencies of participants to implement and evaluate context-specific approaches to address health problems Participants are usually from various nationalities and are expected to actively share their own experiences in interaction with each other in order to contribute to learning and strengthening knowledge and competencies.
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: Maximum number of students: 34 Maximum number of tropEd students: 5
Selection: First come, first served
Fees: € 1,980 (tropEd € 1,782) € 1,584 early bird when you pay more than 3 months before the course starts)
Scholarships: There are no current specific scholarships for this course, for latest updates see
Major changes since initial accreditation: Since the initial accreditation the following changes were made 1.The instruction for the policy brief assignment has changed: instead of 2500 the word count is 2000 (+10%); then the executive summary and the conclusions & recommendations as well as the literature search are no longer included in the assignment. It remains a single assignment (100% paper) 2. Two sessions will be merged the Finance for UHC and the UHC policy session and the Finance for SRHR will have a case study on abortion. 3. The tutorial sessions are plenary; with an assessment of a policy brief and small peer group discussion on the knowledge in the first session of 3 hours. In the second session the students pitch their policy brief in 5 minutes and facilitators and student provide feedback. 4. Journal club sessions related to public-private mix for UHC and Feminist Global Health Framework are included. 4. In the QA and wrap up the policy assignment is core focus. 5. Presence of 90% of the sessions related to the policy brief assignment, plenary tutorial sessions and journal clubs. 6. the ECTS credit points are reduced from 4 to 3. This is made possible by the above changes.
Student evaluation: In the academic year 2022/2023, student evaluation of the module was as follows ● The module objectives aligned well with the course objectives, and overall the students liked the sessions ● Some students felt they lacked sufficient details regarding the policy brief assignment. Specifically, they had difficulty understanding the process of writing and analysing the policy brief. ● Some mentioned who missed the second tutorial session mentioned they needed more concrete and specific support for the policy brief ● Students recommended to consider using the journal club to provide a support on the policy brief- as people really liked the journal clubs ● Allocate additional time and tutorial to comprehending the policy brief, such as presenting work to peers and gathering feedback. ● Provide example papers earlier in the module to demonstrate the expectations for the policy brief assignment, preferably following the initial explanation of the assignment- like last year this was done from the start ● External participants were very positive about the module
Lessons learned: Based on module evaluations the following changes were made in 2024: ● Students assess a policy brief of their choice in the first tutorial and pitch their full paper in the last tutorial. ● In the first weeks the programme mainly consists of classes and group work, in the last week the students have more time for focusing on their policy brief assignment ● More emphasis is given on governance and policy analysis. One of the journal clubs focuses on the feminist global health framework.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in December 2016. Re-accredited in June 2018 and June 2023. Re-accredited in EC telco in July 2024. This accreditation is valid until July 2029.
Email Address:	L.Gerstel@kit.nl
Date Of Record Creation:	2016-12-22 16:22:41 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2016-12-22 21:36:59 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2018-06-21 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2024-07-19 09:09:31 (W3C-DTF)