MEASURE Evaluation End-of-Phase-III Event in Zambia

MEASURE Evaluation’s capacity building program in Zambia was celebrated in a close-out event held in Lusaka at the end of July. With the end of MEASURE Evaluation Phase III approaching, a local committee organized the event to recognize the collaboration between MEASURE Evaluation and the Government of Zambia over the past 16 years. Institutional capacity building in the analysis, interpretation and presentation of findings from data from population-based surveys and health management information systems, has been the main focus of MEASURE Evaluation in Zambia.

At the event, Government of Zambia representatives, training participants, and a MEASURE Evaluation representative highlighted the collaborative capacity-building approach of MEASURE Evaluation in Zambia. In response to specific needs, as identified by a local working group, this approach focused on a transfer of skills, achieved through direct training, individual mentorship, and development of short courses and instructional materials suitable for incorporation into the M&E course offerings at the University of Zambia. The ultimate goal of the capacity-building program is to ensure sustainability of these activities beyond the training of key personnel.

MEASURE Evaluation’s capacity-building program began with collaborative work around the Zambia Sexual Behavior Survey (ZSBS). This was an important data source for national planning and policy formulation, and was conducted multiple times through the Central Statistical Office (CSO) with support from MEASURE Evaluation. Over the past 16 years, the CSO, Ministry of Health, National AIDS Council, and the University of Zambia, have worked with MEASURE Evaluation to implement many capacity-building activities, including:

• Training in population-based survey implementation, including the ZSBS and SAVVY;
• Trainings in survey management, analysis, interpretation, and presentation using Stata and PowerPoint;
• Trainings in desktop publishing using InDesign;
• Trainings in development of data entry and processing using CSPro;
• Developing short course training modules in survey and routine data analysis;
• Training in analysis and interpretation of data from routine health information systems using Excel and Stata; and
• Trainings in death certification and international classification of diseases and related health problems.

In the keynote speech of the close-out event, a representative from the Ministry of Finance concluded by saying he was “grateful to MEASURE Evaluation for the technical and financial support rendered to [the Zambian] government over the years through various government institutions to provide reliable, accurate, and timely data.”