The best free online courses in Monitoring and Evaluation in Aid and Social programs

By Claire Barnhoorn - On

Overrated or of highest importance? MEAL, M&E, MEL, another abbreviation heaven as so much in our humanitarian vocabulary. But all those boil down to the basics of successful relief operations. We humanitarians all need monitoring and evaluation (M&E). It is critical to know whether you are on track and be able to assess the performance of a project or program and its outcomes.

Part of my NOHA program back in the day hardly touched upon M&E as a separate course, while we focused on nearly all aspects of humanitarian operations and policy.  If I look at my network, there are many M&E experts, but where to start? If you are to write a proposal that needs an M&E framework, how to define and measure it? Or if you wish to expand your expertise and become an M&E consultant? 

Since I published my first blog with free online courses for humanitarians, I have received several requests if I had some sources regarding Monitoring and Evaluation in humanitarian and social programs. Hence today, publishing this list too. If you wish, please check some of the other lists already available too (for example, GBV & Child protection or International Humanitarian Law & Human rights).

Free Monitoring and Evaluation courses in Humanitarian Aid and Social programs

  1. Certifications in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) by PHAP – International Association of professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection 
  2. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Essentials Certificate by Cornerstone ondemand foundation (4 hours)
  3. Introduction to MEAL by World Vision, FIELD Programme, Save the Children and Humanitarian Leadership Academy (1 hour)
  4. Monitoring and Evaluation by UNICEF (4-6 hours)
  5. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning for Development Professionals by Humanitarian Leadership Academy, Humentum, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) (7-8 hours)
  6. MEAL in Emergencies by CSR – Catholic Relief Services (7,5 hours)
  7. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) in Emergencies by Humanitarian Leadership Academy (1-2 hours)
  8. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) in Emergencies by Save the Children (2 hours)*
  9. Results-based project management: monitoring and evaluation by University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg (24 hours)
  10. Essentials of Program Strategy and Evaluation by Stanford University (Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society) (5-10 hours per week – 4 weeks)
  11. Monitoring and Evaluation Practices by IRC – International Rescue Committee (2 hours)*
  12. Planning for Monitoring and Evaluating by FHI360 (5 – 10 hours)
  13. Monitoring and Evaluation by the Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Assistance (META) Project (2 hours)*
  14. Monitoring by World Vision, FIELD Programme, Save the Children and Humanitarian Leadership Academy (1 hour)
  15. Evaluations by World Vision, FIELD Programme, Save the Children and Humanitarian Leadership Academy (1 hour)
  16. Designing and Implementing Monitoring and Evaluating Systems by Aga Khan University (4-5 hours)
  17. Measuring and Modeling Impact in Evaluations by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and USAID (11 hours)
  18. Evaluating Public Health programs at scale by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and USAID (18 hours)
  19. Introduction to Impact Evaluation of Health Communication Programs by Global Health Learning centre (3 hours)
  20. Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Adapting (MERLA) by RTI International (5-6 hours)
  21. Introduction to Project Evaluation by NPTL – National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (4-5 hours)
  22. Basic and Advanced Impact Analysis by Global Health Learning centre (3,5 hours)
  23. Research for Impact by University of Capetown & OXFAM (20 hours)
  24. Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan for Food Security and Agriculture Programmes by FAO – Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (3,5 hour)
  25. Assessing Impact of Development Programmes on Food Security by FAO (10 hours) 
  26. Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) Methodology by Action against Hunger (2 hours)*

Not available now, but might be in the future again:

  1. Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation by Commonwealth of Learning (30 to 50 hours)
  2. Program Monitoring and Evaluation: Basic Principles by Feed the Future, Tufts and USAID (1-2 hours)
  3.  …
* Please note – all courses and links below with a * require a sign up and login at disasterready first (you can sign up here).

Some great online M&E resources for humanitarian contexts

For great resource collections, please check the Humanitarian Library and search for their massive database and collections around probably any subject in the humanitarian sector for guidelines and lessons learned.
 
I am hereby sharing some key guidelines and materials. Please inform me which one I should include if I have to complete this list to 10 core items.
  1. Basics of MEL in Humanitarian Context, part of the CARE Emergency Toolkit
  2. M&E Fundamentals: A Self-Guided Minicourse by MEASURE Evaluation 
  3. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in Emergencies, guidebook by IOM