Adaptability of the organization/system to changing needs in a training environment

Adaptability of the organization/system to changing needs in a training environment

Adaptability of the organization/system to changing needs in a training environment

“Changing needs in the training environment” are identifiable changes that require the organization to adjust its training procedures. Examples include introduction of a new contraceptive method, the growing demand for counseling and testing services in HIV programs, new techniques for cervical cancer prevention, screening for violence against women.

Data Requirement(s):

A list of changes in the service delivery environment requiring adaptations in training over a certain period; evidence of the organization’s willingness and ability to respond to those needs

Evidence from program records or other sources of regular, periodic meetings to assess needed changes (e.g., at least once every six months); and/or data collected through a special study

This indicator is particularly appropriate in the context of an overall assessment of an organization in terms of its training capacity, conducted by an external evaluator with expertise in the training area. The assessment requires an understanding of the local delivery context and cannot take the form of a simple “checklist” or summation of points.

Examples of an organization’s adaptability to changing needs in a changing environment include:

  • Trainers from the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council developing a postabortion care training package in 1995; and
  • The Center for African Studies’ (CAFS) launching a new course in 2010 on how to develop and carry out an effective knowledge management strategy in response to the popularity of electronic communication.

For training organizations to be effective, they must be able to respond to changes in the service delivery environment and in their operations. Evaluators may have difficulty charting an organization’s progress in this area, precisely because no objective list of changing conditions in the service delivery environment exists. Moreover, in any given list of changes, some items may be relatively trivial compared to others that have wide- ranging public health implications. Thus, both types of changes cannot receive equal weight.

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