New Resource Spotlight: An Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health
Health workers are an essential component of health service delivery—without them, there can be no health care. But program and project implementers are challenged to generate evidence linking health workforce strengthening activities to health outcomes. Many practitioners aren’t sure what metrics are available or recommended for monitoring and evaluating progress in the area of human resources for health (HRH).
An Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health is a new eLearning course produced by CapacityPlus and accessible through the HRH Global Resource Center. Its goal is to introduce key monitoring and evaluation (M&E) concepts and how they apply to the field of HRH. The course also provides an overview of resources and tools to inform evidence-based planning and decision-making for HRH programs. It is aimed at HRH practitioners, M&E practitioners, global health students and professionals, program planners, and policy-makers and does not require any prior experience or knowledge of M&E.
Carie Muntifering, one of CapacityPlus’s M&E advisors, tested the course in its final development stages. She shares her user’s perspective: “What’s nice is that the developers provide a brief introduction to M&E, then go into more specific details of M&E of HRH. I think HRH definitely has some challenges that not every other health division experiences, especially around data quality.” She points to the absence of a consistent and reliable data source across countries for the health workforce. “For other health areas, people use DHS [Demographic and Health Surveys] and health information systems,” she explains. “There’s really nothing similar for HRH. I think this course helps shed light on these challenges.”
Rather than provide all the solutions, Muntifering notes, the course draws attention to “different things [users] should be asking themselves and thinking through. As an introductory, fairly short course, it puts people in the right mindset [to focus on] key concerns and issues, such as how to identify indicators.”
The course includes a case study exercise that helps users apply the concepts they’ve learned and asks them to select indicators for the measurement of an HRH program. Users can seek guidance in the course’s discussion board forum.
As with all courses on the HRH Global Resource Center eLearning Platform, An Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health is a low-bandwidth-friendly, free course available to anyone who wishes to learn about the topic. The HRH Global Resource Center offers free courses developed by technical experts in the fields of HRH, health informatics, and health service delivery to build the capacity of country-based users in critical skills development.
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