New HIV Training Guide Geared Toward Family Physicians in Ukraine

Posted on June 5, 2015May 2, 2023

Pilot Training Ukraine — Participants, experts, developers, and trainers of the pilot training event that took place in October 2014 at the UFMTC at NMU.

The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) Ukraine, in close partnership with the Ukrainian Family Medicine Training Center (UFMTC) at Bogomolets National Medical University (NMU), and under the auspices of the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Ukraine, has published a new facilitator guide, Modern Technologies for the Organization of Prevention of HIV/AIDS Transmission and Drug Use: The Role of Family Medicine Based Primary Health Care.

“This publication is a product of creative collaboration by a united team of experts in the areas of family medicine and HIV,” said Olga Vysotska, Director of the UFMTC at NMU. “It is a unique gift to the faculty of all departments at medical schools and colleges all over Ukraine that train medical doctors and nurses.”

The MoH of Ukraine recommends the guide as a tutorial for clinical interns and doctors enrolled in in-service or continuous medical education training programs, as well as for faculty of the Ukrainian medical universities and colleges that train medical doctors and nurses as general practitioners and family doctors.

The goal of the course is to provide participants with skills and knowledge in the early diagnosis, care, social adaptation, treatment, and early prophylaxis of HIV, specifically in combination with drug addiction, tuberculosis, and hepatitis, as well as to form the proper attitudes necessary for family physicians in Ukraine to provide effective services to HIV patients, and patients of at-risk groups.

The guide is based on the results of a pilot training event that took place in October 2014 at the UFMTC at NMU. Dr. Chris Behrens from I-TECH facilitated the event, along with nine leading national experts from NMU, the Ukrainian Center of Diseases Control (UCDC), the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Clinical Center for Palliative Care, and the Kiev City AIDS Center.

“It is the first of its kind in Ukraine; no such publications existed prior to this one,” said Dr. Vysotska. “In addition to their work on the most up-to-date clinical content, we really valued the methodological support provided by I-TECH during the training process and development of the guide, as well as the application of contemporary tools and approaches to adult education.”

The key areas covered by the course are:

HIV/AIDS epidemiology, both globally and in Ukraine, including the roles of primary health care and family medicine in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Pathophysiology, pathogenesis, and stages of HIV infection, including key diagnostic methods
Palliative care for HIV/AIDS patients by family doctors.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART)
Diagnosis and management of co-infection (HIV/TB/virus, hepatitis B and C) in family practice
HIV in pregnant women, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission
Management of patients with HIV and drug addiction, including opiate substitution therapy (OST)
Post-contact prophylaxis, including universal precautions (international and Ukrainian standards)

“The process of development of this product by a multicultural, multiprofessional team of experts was vibrant, mutually enriching, and very satisfying,” said Anna Shapoval, Country Representative for I-TECH Ukraine. “We are most grateful to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, HRSA of the US Department of HHS and CDC in Ukraine for their support and guidance through this project and look forward to new initiatives of this kind together with our national partners.”

For more information about the guide, please visit: http://www.ex.ua/618786634523

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under U91HA06801, the International AIDS Education and Training Center (IAETC). The content of this post is the author’s and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

Faculty Partnerships with University of Namibia Lead to Strengthened School of Public Health

eLearning/Distance Learning Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Leadership & Management Namibia Nursing/HCW Cadres

Posted on February 23, 2015August 1, 2017

UNAM School of Nursing Science and Public Health

Despite a decrease in the estimated annual HIV/AIDS incidence since 2001, HIV/AIDS remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in Namibia.[1]

In 2008, the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) at the University of Washington (UW) was invited to conduct a rapid assessment of the University of Namibia (UNAM) master’s degree program in public health, with the goal of identifying ways to strengthen UNAM’s School of Nursing Science and Public Health. Dr. Virginia Gonzales, Senior Lecturer in the UW’s Department of Global Health and Senior Technical Specialist with I-TECH, led that study along with Lee Pyne-Mercier, UW Affiliate Instructor and former I-TECH Country Program Manager.

New award based on study findings

Recommendations included the suggestion that UNAM attract lecturers from outside the university to strengthen teaching in subjects such as research methods, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Based on these and other findings from the assessment, UNAM and UW/I-TECH submitted a joint application to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and were awarded a five-year cooperative agreement in 2010, with Dr. Ann Downer, Executive Director of I-TECH, serving as principal investigator.

The goal of the agreement was to improve and enhance the UNAM School of Nursing Science and Public Health. Objectives for this project included:

Plan for sustainability and transfer of resources to UNAM.
Strengthen professional development and faculty support at UNAM.
Strengthen content and delivery of the MPH program at UNAM.
Improve research capacity and output of lecturers and students at UNAM.
Strengthen institutional capacity and infrastructure for teaching public health at UNAM.

With this new award, I-TECH/UW and UNAM embarked upon a series of faculty partnerships. The group also began to explore how to separate the UNAM School of Nursing Science and Public Health into two programs, creating both a School of Nursing and a School of Public Health. The UNAM Senate issued a proclamation in 2014 that this would occur.

“The focus of curriculum [in the new School of Public Health] will be needs-driven,” says Dr. Käthe Hofnie Hoëbes, Associate Dean of the UNAM School of Nursing Science and Public Health, “and it will support new job growth in Namibia, as it promotes the creation of new cadres of public health specialization.”

From partnership comes growth

Retreat with UW and UNAM faculty, 2009

The CDC award has now come to an end; however, through this project, UW and UNAM created 16 strong faculty partnerships, all determined by the priorities of the UNAM faculty through a Public Health Working Group (PHWG).

“The benefit of working with the PHWG was one of the key takeaways from this project,” says Dr. Gonzales. “It ensured that UNAM was in the position to offer continual input, guide project activities, and truly lead the project.”

The faculty partnerships occurred in health policy, bioethics, nutrition, research, environmental health, and epidemiology, linking interested faculty at UW and UNAM. Through these relationships, UW faculty visited the main UNAM campus in Windhoek to facilitate workshops and review curriculum, and the UNAM faculty visited UW to observe classes and work on curriculum revision.

As a result of the trust among faculty at both universities, partnerships evolved in unexpected areas as well, including social work, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, teaching technologies, and with the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services’ (MOHSS) Primary Health Care Program.

“Working in partnership was a cross fertilizing, fulfilling and enriching exercise for all of us who were involved,” says Magdaleena Nghatanga, former Director of the Directorate of Primary Health Care, MOHSS. “Across the ocean we shared experiences and professional expertise. Utilizing technology such as Skype, Dropbox, and e-learning helped the team in developing and revising the curriculum, as well as in building and improving teaching at the university level. As a result, the Primary Health Care Program and curriculum were revised and updated, and the students were thrilled with the new lectures.”

Outcomes echo throughout the country

Leaders in Health–Namibia! working group, 2010

The collaboration also focused attention on teaching skills, and evaluations of faculty by students at UNAM improved considerably. In addition, UNAM graduates reported improved skills and knowledge in HIV/AIDS, nutrition, health policy, epidimiology, and research and increased knowledge of and interest in public health. Thesis supervisors at UNAM reported greater skills in supervision and student mentoring, and UNAM lecturers reported increased knowledge, skills, and confidence in teaching course materials.[2]

The workshops offered on learning theory and teaching skills were later scaled to all of UNAM, including remote campuses. Several faculty also participated in the Leaders in Health – Namibia! (LIH) program that was designed by I-TECH/UW in collaboration with the MOHSS in order to strengthen the health care delivery system in Namibia through effective mentoring of health leaders and managers. The UNAM faculty who participated in LIH later improved course content on leadership and management at UNAM by using material and content from LIH.

“This partnership has yielded benefits on many fronts,” says Dean Hofnie Hoëbes. “Lines of collaboration have been initiated with other world-class universities, and technical support was provided for the roadmap for establishing a standalone School of Public Health. This will benefit the nation as a whole by supporting public health care in the country and preparing a larger, professional workforce with specialized skills to address shortages in public health practitioners in Namibia.”

_________________

[1] Namibia Global Health Initiative, 2011-2015/16.

[2] University of Namibia and I-TECH Namibia. Evaluation of the Impact of the UNAM/I-TECH Collaboration upon the Master of Public Health Program, 2009-2012. 2013.

Ukrainian Medical University Delegation Visits I-TECH HQ

Health Systems Strengthening HIV and STI Prevention HIV Care and Treatment Human Resources for Health Nursing/HCW Cadres Quality Improvement Ukraine

Posted on July 8, 2014May 2, 2023

Ukraine_MOU_image

From L to R: Dr. King Holmes, Dr. Olga Vystoska, and Dr. Ann Downer present the signed MOU.

On June 12 and 13, representatives from Ukraine’s Bogomolets National Medical University (NMU) visited I-TECH HQ offices at Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington (UW) Department of Family Medicine.

NMU is the leading medical school in Ukraine, with more than 150 years of history. This visit formally launched the partnership between NMU and the UW’s I-TECH, Department of Global Health, School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and Family Medicine Department. Steps toward partnership began this spring, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by all parties.

The visit started off with a two-hour planning meeting, during which Dr. King Holmes, chair of the UW Department of Global Health (DGH), gave an introduction to the department. This was followed by presentations by Olga Vystoska, Director of the Ukrainian Family Medicine Training Center at NMU, and other UW department representatives, who explored possible areas of collaboration. The meeting wrapped up with the exchange of signed originals of the MOU.

The Ukrainian delegation particularly appreciated the opportunity to meet I-TECH’s Executive Director, Dr. Ann Downer, and staff; learn about I-TECH’s activities; and tour the UW’s Family Medicine Clinic and Harborview Madison Clinic, which provides medical care and social services for persons living with HIV/AIDS. The group was especially impressed by a tour of the UW Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies (ISIS) lab at Harborview, and Dr. Vystoska expressed interest in starting a similar lab at NMU.

The delegation also had a working meeting with Dr. Chris Behrens to discuss next steps in developing an HIV in-service training curriculum for family practitioners that I-TECH plans to pilot in Kyiv in October with Dr. Behrens’s co-facilitation.

The new Project Director of I-TECH Ukraine, Anna Shapoval, was a driving force behind this collaboration and visit.

“The I-TECH Ukraine team is excited to promote the HIV response and health care reform in Ukraine,” said Ms. Shapoval, who added that she was very pleased with how the meetings went. “We look forward to growing I-TECH’s presence in country, focusing on the most urgent issues of streamlining HIV into primary health care, advancing quality assurance and quality improvement models — as continuation of its unique experience with CLASS.”

Other potential areas of collaboration include joint research activities, publications, and library exchanges; the exchange of faculty members and students for study, teaching, and research; and joint hosting of distance education broadcasts and online courses and seminars.

Julie Stein, Technical Officer for Training Development on the I-TECH Ukraine team, expressed enthusiasm as well. “This visit was incredibly fruitful,” said Ms. Stein. “The meetings and tours generated a lot of excitement from everyone about possible future collaboration.”

I-TECH Helps to Fight Cervical Cancer in Haiti

Haiti Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Noncommunicable Disease

Posted on March 28, 2014May 1, 2017

I-TECH's Dr. Jean Guy Honoré and nurses assess supplies.

On International Women’s Day, March 8, Radio France Internationale’s Atelier de Medias posted a piece highlighting I-TECH’s work to fight cervical cancer in Haiti. The following is a summary of the post.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and remains a leading cause of death, with approximately 86% of new cases and deaths occurring in middle- and low-income countries.¹ Among women who die from this disease, the percentage of them from developing countries has increased from 80% in 2002 to 88% in 2008, and it may reach 98% by 2030.²

Haiti — a country with limited resources and a population of 10 million — is no exception. Currently, it is estimated that, every year, 568 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Haiti, and 353 of them succumb to the cancer.³ According to the WHO, if nothing is done by 2025, there will be an approximately 55% increase in cases of cervical cancer in Haiti.

In answer to this threat, the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), through the Direction of Family Health (DSF), launched a Cervical Cancer Prevention program in Haiti. Since 2011, I-TECH — with funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — has supported DSF/MSPP in facilitating the training of trainers (ToT) and participating actively in the drafting of standards for screening and treatment of precancerous lesions on the cervix.

In March 2013, I-TECH in collaboration with Dr. Frantz Montès from MSPP and two other Haitian experts, Dr. Christophe Millien and Dr. Eddy Jonas from Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante, conducted a training in visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy for caregivers from these institutions.

This program grew under the leadership of I-TECH’s Technical Director Dr. Jean Guy Honoré. In December 2013, I-TECH began to assist institutions in implementing the program, and in the months that followed, it was launched at six institutions across the country. This has resulted in hundreds of patients screened, several of whom have received cryotherapy and cervical biopsies.

The full text of the article (in French) can be found at http://atelier.rfi.fr/profiles/blogs/halte-au-cancer-du-col-en-ha-ti-i-tech-s-investit.

Sources:

1. Human Papillomavirus and Related Cancers in Haiti. Summary Report 2010. World Health Organization / ICO Information Centre on HPV and Cervical Cancer HPV (HPV Information Centre), 2012. Accessed on May 25, 2014.

2. Strategies for cervical cancer prevention using visual inspection with acetic acid and cryotherapy treatment screening. Report of the PAHO workshop for Latin America and the Caribbean. Guatemala City, June 1-2, 2011. Washington, DC: Pan American Health Organization, 2011.

3. Globocan 2008: Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide. International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization, 2010.

New Article Examines Effect of Training Approaches on Malaria Case Management

Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Malaria Uganda

Posted on January 31, 2014August 1, 2017

Martin Mbonye

In Uganda, the country with the world’s highest malaria transmission rate, effective training of frontline health workers is especially critical. A new article reports the positive effects of the Integrated Infectious Disease Capacity Building Evaluation (IDCAP)’s training approaches on malaria case management in the country.

“Effect of Integrated Capacity-Building Interventions on Malaria Case Management by Health Professionals in Uganda: A Mixed Design Study with Pre/Post and Cluster Randomized Trial Components” was lead-authored by Martin K. Mbonye, Msc., a researcher at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) in Kampala, Uganda, and published in open-access journal PLOS ONE on Jan. 8; the full text is available online.

“This project made huge strides toward improving the capacity of health workers,” said Mbonye. “These findings have positive implications for Uganda’s increasing ability to take ownership of its malaria interventions and better fight infectious diseases – which account for the majority of the disease burden in the country.”

The IDCAP provided classroom training, distance learning, and on-site support to mid-level practitioners through two interventions: the Integrated Management of Infectious Disease (IMID) training program and on-site support, which integrated site visits and continuous quality improvement. Building on the work of the Joint Uganda Malaria Program (JUMP), IDCAP tackled a wider scope, including malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, HIV, and related infectious diseases. (Read more about the interventions and other results here.)

The evaluators then measured the effects of the interventions and the performance of 36 facilities. The results were promising; the combination of interventions was found to improve emergency triage, assessment and treatment processes, and malaria care, a topic of particular importance in Uganda, where steady temperatures and rainfall enable high levels of malaria transmission year-round.

As the IDCAP’s monitoring and evaluation team specialist, and then as program manager, Mbonye oversaw the project’s data surveillance system. He reported improvements in the use of diagnostic tests for malaria suspects, the prescription of the appropriate antimalarials for patients who were determined to need one, and a reduction in the prescription of antimalarials among patients who tested negative for malaria. This decrease in presumptive diagnosis is an important element in reducing drug stockouts and resistance.

I-TECH was one of four partners in the now-completed IDCAP grant to the Accordia Global Health Foundation, and University of Washington professor Marcia Weaver is the IDCAP principal investigator. This article is one of the first in a series of papers describing the study’s results.

New Article On Cost Effectiveness Of Training

Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Monitoring & Evaluation

Posted on May 22, 2013May 1, 2017

A new article on cost-effectiveness analysis of global training programs has been published in a leading journal on health workforce issues.

The article, “Cost-Effectiveness Analyses of Training: A Manager’s Guide,” was written by two I-TECH faculty: Gabrielle O’Malley, who is I-TECH’s Director of Operations Research and Quality Improvement, and Marcia Weaver, a Research Associate Professor based at I-TECH. Elliot Marseille of Health Strategies International in San Francisco also contributed to the article that appears in the journal Human Resources for Health.

The evidence on the cost and cost-effectiveness of global training programs is sparse. O’Malley and Weaver wrote this manager’s guide for professionals who want to recognize and encourage high quality cost-effectiveness analysis.

Weaver credits O’Malley with coming up with the idea for the article and spearheading it through several drafts over several years. In her role at I-TECH, O’Malley participates in meetings with policymakers and sees how compelling evidence on cost-effectiveness can be as well as the potential for cost data to be misinterpreted or misused.

“The objectives of the article are to promote professional standards for cost analyses and cost-effectiveness and show it’s feasible to provide evidence within the scope and budget of a training program evaluation,” Weaver said.

I-TECH Releases Updated Manual on Essential Supervisory Skills

Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Leadership & Management

Posted on May 20, 2013May 1, 2017

The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) is pleased to announce the release of the second edition of I-TECH’s manual Essential Supervisory Skills, which you can download here (PDF, 2.7 MB).

A resource for managers, this “supervisor’s toolbox” is a 65-page manual developed from years of research and discussions with supervisors in a variety of industries from several countries. This easy-to-use guide gives managers a step-by-step plan to develop their supervisory skills while helping their employees reach their potential. Seven chapters include background and instructions on accountability, evaluation, effective hiring and how to address performance issues.

“The purpose of the Supervisor’s Toolbox is to provide a convenient resource supervisors can turn to when dealing with the myriad of issues that come their way,” said Richard Wilkinson, I-TECH Human Resources Director.

Decisions supervisors make often have a direct impact on employees’ lives—and global health. Wilkinson points out that investing in training for supervisors translates to more effective, efficient, and happier employees.

“There’s an old saying that employees join organizations and leave bosses,” he said. “Supervisors directly affect the difference employees can make in contributing to the success of their teams and I-TECH. My hope is these tools will help supervisors communicate clearly and manage confidently.”

I-TECH South Africa Co-Hosts Third National Regional Training Centre Conference

Health Systems Strengthening HIV Care and Treatment Human Resources for Health South Africa

Posted on March 12, 2013August 1, 2017

Every biennium, the South African National Department of Health hosts a National Regional Training Center (RTC) Conference that brings together RTC managers, their line management, as well as key policy makers from the National and Provincial Departments of Health.This year I-TECH South Africa was honored to serve as a co-host.

This was the third national conference, and this year the theme was A Decade of Strengthening the Health Care System: Developing Human Resources for Health through the Regional Training Centers.

The popular conference registered 137 delegates out of the expected 120. Public health experts delivered compelling talks, whose topics ranged from leadership and management to innovative ways of delivering training.

I-TECH-SA-NTC-300 — I-TECH South Africa staff were key to organizing and hosting the conference.

I-TECH South Africa presented a talk on The Findings of the Situational Analysis in Nine Regional Training Centres of South Africa, as well as a report on Regional Training Center Models, which was authored by Dr Nathan Linsk, a professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who drew on his 25 years experience with the US AIDS Education and Training Centers network. Both of these reports contributed significantly to the subsequent three days of discussion about the future of Regional Training Centers in South Africa.

During the conference, delegates were divided into five commission that looked at:

Future role (Coordination of all in-service training; Institutional Base, Location, Funding model)
Resources for RTCs (Human, IT, Internet connectivity, Equipment, Infrastructure etc.)
Training and Education Approach (Mentoring, distance learning and Resource Library)
Coordination, Accreditation and linkages with academic institutions (levels of accreditation, certification etc.)
Planning, M & E, Reporting (Training needs analysis, integrated planning, M & E systems)

RTC managers took the worksheets from the 5 Commissions and developed an action plan, which was presented by the National Department of Health in a plenary session. As part of the next steps, I-TECH South Africa and NDOH will write a Conference report that will contain the action plan and a monitoring and evaluation plan as attachments. The NDOH will present the action plan to the National Health Council, made up of the National and Provincial Ministers of Health, for high level decisions and support toward the implementation of the proposed model.

Ivoirian OpenELIS Software Developers Build Skills In Seattle

Cote d'Ivoire Health Information Systems Health Systems Strengthening Human Resources for Health Laboratory Systems

Posted on February 8, 2013November 1, 2019

The weather has been rainy, and the midwinter days are short, but for two software developers from Côte D’Ivoire, four mid-winter weeks in Seattle offer a rare chance to develop skills under the close mentorship of University of Washington I-TECH experts.

DrKone — Dr Kone presents his capstone project to the Seattle OpenELIS team.

“There is no opportunity in Côte D’Ivoire to build software development skills like this,” said Dr Constant Kone on a recent afternoon as the grey Seattle rain pelted against the window of his borrowed office at I-TECH. His colleague Mr Kamalan Fourier, typing intently on his laptop across the table they share, nodded in agreement.

For several years, I-TECH has coordinated the implementation of the OpenELIS software in national public health laboratories in Côte D’Ivoire, an effort that is led by a highly skilled UW-based health informatics team. The open source laboratory informatics software was customized by the I-TECH team to match the workflow and local needs in Côte D’Ivoire.

But after the initial push to develop and install the software, there was a need for ongoing support, bug fixes, and additional features. “We get continual requests to add new features,” says Jen Antilla, a training specialist on the Seattle team, “for example to respond to new lab processes or build new reports that users need. And like any software, there will always be bugs to fix. We want to build the capacity to respond to those requests locally, in the labs where OpenELIS is running.”

Mr Kamalan Fourier — Mr Fourier presents his capstone project to the team.

Like all I-TECH programs, the Côte D’Ivoire deployment of Open ELIS is on a trajectory towards local ownership and sustainability, but that path is made more complicated by the lack of skilled software developers in Côte D’Ivoire. I-TECH began recruiting for local software developers in April 2012, and recognizing that most applicants would require additional training, the team started designing a custom training course to build the Open ELIS development skills of the new hires in Côte D’Ivoire.

As the first trainees, Dr Kone and Mr Fourier are in Seattle for four weeks, which is the intensive first phase of a planned nine month training program that will continue remotely after they return home.

Central to the training is a problem-based curriculum developed by Antilla and her colleagues, which moves the learners through a typical software development cycle: gathering requirements, designing the solution, developing it into the Open ELIS codebase, and testing it before implementation.

Paul Schwartz reviews the work presented by his Ivoirian colleagues, and provides feedback.

“It gives them the opportunity to learn about the different facets of Open ELIS as well as the tools and process needed to build a new feature,” says Antilla. “And to do so under the direct guidance of a mentor who’s spending lots of face-to-face time with them. When they return to Côte D’Ivoire they will continue with similar exercises a few hours each week, under a remote mentorship of our team, for the next 8 months.”

In the next few months Open ELIS will be fully implemented at a new site in Côte D’Ivoire, the lab at the Institut Pasteur. For the first time there will be local developers on-site with the skills to solve problems locally for their colleagues, with ever-decreasing support from Seattle.

And the I-TECH team in Seattle looks forward to having skilled colleagues at the point of deployment, sharing of the load.

“There’s nothing quite like having the opportunity to build a personal relationship over 4 weeks together in Seattle,” said Paul Schwartz, the senior software engineer on the Seattle team. “I look forward to working shoulder to shoulder with them after they return. Even when those shoulders are half a world away in West Africa!”

Botswana Monitoring and Evaluation Workbooks Now Available Online

Botswana Human Resources for Health Monitoring & Evaluation

Posted on February 7, 2013May 1, 2017

In Botswana, I-TECH helped the Ministry of Local Government and the National AIDS Coordinating Agency to train and place local monitoring and evaluation officers in every district across the country (read more about that program here).

Botswana M&E officer — An I-TECH-trained Monitoring and Evaluation Officer conducts a community survey in Botswana.

Three self-directed learning workbooks developed for the program are now available online. The workbooks are designed to provide information and guidance for carrying out monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of health programs. They were created as training documents and reference materials for district-level M&E Officers in Botswana. They can also be used by other Program Officers in the district who are involved in M&E.

The first workbook, entitled An Orientation to District-Level Monitoring & Evaluation, focuses on tasks and information necessary for newly recruited M&E Officers who are beginning work in the field. It provides an orientation including: an overview of HIV and AIDS, the national health programs in Botswana, job description, core activities of district M&E Officers, an introduction to M&E, and an introduction to e-reporting of district health data.

The second workbook, entitled Doing the “M” in M&E, focuses on monitoring activities. This workbook provides information on basic M&E processes. It also provides a practical overview of data collection, data management, data quality, basic data analysis, as well as a guide on presentation skills.

The third workbook, entitled Doing the “E” in M&E, focuses on evaluation activities. This workbook provides information on designing evaluation studies, collecting and analyzing evaluation data, and writing reports.

Learn more about I-TECH Botswana.