Number of trainees by type of personnel and topic of training

Definition:

"Trainee" refers to any type of participant, student, or learner in a training event, regardless of its duration. "Type" refers to the different categories of participants (e.g., physicians, nurses, social workers).  "Topic" is the subject matter covered (e.g., IUD insertion, universal precautions for HIV/ AIDS prevention, use of a partograph during delivery, etc.).

Data Requirements:

Number of persons (based on an actual list of names for potential verification purposes), their professional positions, and topic of training

If targeting and/or linking to inequity, classify trainees by areas served (poor/not poor) and disaggregate by area served.

Data Sources:

Records, usually kept by the training division, which are used both for administrative purposes during the training (e.g., distributing per diem) and for monitoring trainees at a later date

Purpose:

This indicator serves as a crude measure of activity.  Evaluators can use it for determining whether a program/project meets its target and/or for tracking progress from one year to the next.

Issue(s):

The "unit of measurement" is not strictly speaking uniform, in that one trainee may have attended a course for one day, whereas another may have participated in a course for three months.

Evaluators can further improve the measure in several ways:

• Expressing the number of trainees by type of training;
• Expressing the number of trainees as the percent of the number scheduled for training in a given year;
• Expressing the number of trainees as a percent of the estimated number needed to be trained to fill a national program mandate, determined through a systematic needs assessment prior to the initiation of training activities; and
• Expressing the number successfully completing the course as a percent of the total that enroll in the course.

Because this indicator does not assess improved knowledge and/or skills, it should be used in conjunction with the indicators, Number Of Trainees By Type Of Personnel And Topic Of Training and Number/Percent Of Trainees Who Have Mastered Relevant Knowledge, as appropriate.

Gender Implications:

A gender perspective on training assesses the following questions:

1. How are the curricula developed?
   • Are women and men involved in determining what subjects will be covered?
   • Are women and men involved in drafting the contents?
2. What is the content of the curricula?
   • Is the language gender-sensitive?
   • Are the contents in line with ICPD principles on sexual and reproductive rights?
   • Do the contents cover gender-based differences in access to and use of health services?
3. Who carries out the training?
   • What proportion of the trainers are men? Women?
   • What are the roles of male versus female trainers?
4. What training methodologies are used?
   • Are both men and women encouraged to speak-up during training? How often do men speak up? How often do women?
   • What is done to help women participants overcome their shyness/intimidation in groups also containing men? This question is especially important in societies where mixed groups are uncommon.
5. Who receives the training?
   • What proportion of the trainees are men? Women?
   • Are the training sessions held at times and places convenient for both women and men participants, given gender-based constraints, such as restricted mobility, lack of access to money for transport, and household/childcare responsibilities?
   • Is there an equity plan to ensure that all employees get access to training?
   • Is this plan enforced?