Core Competencies for Postgraduate Evaluation Courses: Report of the GEMNet-Health Task Group

The Global Evaluation and Monitoring Network for Health (GEMNet-Health) is a global network of public health institutions whose purpose is to foster organizational growth, collaboration, and mutual support for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of health programs through linkages among members. As countries seek to improve their M&E capacities, they need specific training in evaluation at the postgraduate level. The GEMNet-Health Steering Committee convened a time-limited technical task group to address this need. This Task Group on Core Competencies for Postgraduate Evaluation Courses sought to develop core competencies for a 60-hour masters-level overview course in evaluation. The aim of the task group was to identify a set of essential competencies and corresponding core elements of curricula for postgraduate evaluation courses, which would help GEMNet-Health member institutions develop a consistent and coordinated approach to evaluation training.

This report presents background on the task groups approach, including the reasons for following a competency-based approach to evaluation training. Then, building on a review of competencies from postgraduate-level evaluation courses at several dozen universities, the report identifies core evaluation competencies organized by skill level and topic. It concludes with recommendations for core and optional competencies for an overview evaluation course at the masters level.