Humanitarian Academy

Mini MBA

Mini MBA Programmes and MEAL: design, manage and prove impact

Exactly three months to design, manage and prove impact: needs, indicators, targeting, surveys, analysis, accountability, evaluation and cost-effectiveness. Demanding, numerical, free.

  • 3 months · 12 weeks · 144 hours
  • 3 exams · 2 certificates + 1 diploma
  • 3 numerical case studies
  • Verifiable diploma
Start the course
  • Free, unlimited access
  • 12 weeks of in-depth lessons
  • 60 quiz questions and a bank of 90 exam questions
  • 3 numerical case studies and 3 demanding exams
  • Diploma in your name, verifiable online

What you will learn

  • Design programmes based on measured needs, with a solid results chain, indicators and targets.
  • Build a rigorous MEAL system: quality data, properly sized surveys, sound analysis and genuine accountability.
  • Evaluate, measure impact, judge value for money and lead programmes with evidence.

Course information

Level
Advanced: month 1 (strategy and programmes), month 2 (resources and operations), month 3 (leadership and diploma)
Study time
144 hours over exactly 3 months (12 weeks: lessons, worked numerical exercises, case studies)
Format
Online, at your own pace, free and unlimited access
Assessment
Months 1 and 2: 25 questions + case study, 50 min, 80%; diploma: 30 questions on the whole programme + case study, 75 min, 85%
Credential
Named, numbered certificate of achievement, verifiable online (QR code)
Reference frameworks
CHS Alliance, Groupe URD and the Sphere Project · Sphere · OECD DAC

Enrol in the Mini MBA

Choose your pace. Your enrolment sets your start date: each monthly exam opens at the end of the corresponding month, and the diploma at the earliest exactly 3 months after you start.

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Three months, three exams, one diploma

Each month has four weeks of lessons and ends with a timed exam including a numerical case study. A month's exam only opens at the end of that month after you enrol: the diploma is awarded at the earliest exactly 3 months after you start.

Month 1

Exam: 33 questions · 50 min · 80% to pass

Month 1 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Assess needs with reliable data, classify severity and choose well-argued priorities.
  • Design a programme with a coherent results chain, defined indicators and calculated targets.
  • Choose an appropriate targeting approach and modality, and calculate the transfer value.
  • Plan, budget and monitor the implementation of a programme using the critical path and the burn rate.
  1. Week1Assessing needs: data, severity and prioritiesNeeds assessment in the humanitarian programme cycle · Secondary data: start with what exists · Primary data: choosing methods and controlling bias · Measuring severity: explicit rules and people in need · Protection, gender and market analysis · From analysis to decision: response analysis
  2. Week2Designing a programme: results chain, indicators and targetsThe results chain: what is yours and what is not · From theory of change to logical framework · Indicators that really measure · Baselines and realistic targets · Gender, age, disability and inclusion from the design stage · Checking the design before submitting it
  3. Week3Targeting and modalities: who to help, how, and with how muchWhy target, and what poor targeting costs · Targeting methods · In-kind, vouchers or cash transfers · Calculating a transfer value · Payment mechanisms and data protection · Post-distribution monitoring
  4. Week4Planning and budgeting a programme: from work plan to burn rateFrom logframe to work plan · The critical path and float · The programme budget built on unit costs · Cost per person and cost per result · Monitoring implementation: the burn rate · Programme human resources and organisation
  5. Graded case study : Drought in the Kerbaya valley Three rural districts of a fictitious country affected by a prolonged drought · 33 questions including a case study · 80% to pass
Month 2

Exam: 33 questions · 50 min · 80% to pass

Month 2 certificate · Opens at the end of the month, after the Month 1 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Build a proportionate MEAL plan and ensure data quality, including remotely.
  • Size and conduct a representative survey, and interpret its results with their uncertainty.
  • Analyse quantitative and qualitative data without errors of interpretation, and make them useful.
  • Put genuine accountability in place: feedback mechanism, sensitive channel, participation.
  1. Week5The monitoring system: MEAL plan, data quality and remote monitoringThe MEAL plan: the backbone of monitoring · From collection tools to the dashboard · Data quality: five dimensions · Quality checks during data collection · Remote monitoring and third-party monitoring · Making monitoring useful: from data to decision
  2. Week6Surveys and sampling: getting the numbers rightPopulation, sample and representativeness · Calculating sample size · Stratification and comparisons · Designing a reliable questionnaire · Interpreting a proportion and its confidence interval · Organising a field survey
  3. Week7Analysing data: useful statistics, pitfalls and visualisationDescriptive statistics: mean, median, dispersion · Disaggregating to see inequalities · Correlation, causation and Simpson's paradox · Analysing qualitative data · Visualising to make things understood · From finding to recommendation
  4. Week8Accountability to affected people: participation, complaints and feedbackWhat being accountable to people means · Designing a complaints and feedback mechanism · Closing the loop and measuring performance · Sensitive complaints and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse · Participation and information · Data protection and integration into the programme cycle
  5. Graded case study : Figures that don't add up in Sélé camp Sélé displacement camp (18,000 people) and two neighbouring sites, fictitious country · 33 questions including a case study · 80% to pass
Diploma

Exam: 40 questions · 75 min · 85% to pass

Diploma certificate · Opens at the end of the month, after the Month 2 certificate

By the end of this level, you will be able to:
  • Commission, manage and use an independent evaluation, through to the management response.
  • Measure impact with the appropriate method and present the level of evidence honestly.
  • Analyse value for money and choose between options without sacrificing equity.
  • Lead a programme with evidence: adaptive management, learning and reporting.
  1. Week9Evaluating: criteria, terms of reference, matrix and useWhy and when to evaluate · The OECD-DAC criteria · Terms of reference that get a good evaluation · The evaluation matrix and the inception report · Independence, ethics and evaluation management · Management response and use
  2. Week10Measuring impact: counterfactual, methods and contributionThe fundamental problem: what would have happened without the programme? · The randomised controlled trial and its use in humanitarian settings · Difference-in-differences · Matching and regression discontinuity · Contribution approaches: when attribution is impossible · Choosing the method and deciding what needs proving
  3. Week11Value for money: cost-efficiency, cost-effectiveness and trade-offsValue for money: the 4E framework · Cost-efficiency analysis: the method · Cost-effectiveness analysis · Economies of scale, fixed costs and sensitivity analysis · Presenting value for money to donors · Trade-offs: efficiency, equity and quality
  4. Week12Adaptive management, learning and reporting: leading with evidenceAdaptive management · Programme reviews and after action reviews · Organisational learning · Writing donor reports · Programme closure and sustainability · Final project: the complete MEAL package
  5. Graded case study : The diploma: proving and deciding for the Nour programme Cash transfer and livelihoods programme in two provinces of a fictitious country · 40 questions including a case study · 85% to pass

Who is it for?

Project managers, programme managers and coordinators, MEAL managers and officers, grant managers and future programme directors of NGOs, UN agencies and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Demanding level: at least two years of experience in project management or monitoring and evaluation is strongly recommended.

The certificate

With at least 80% in the month 1 and month 2 exams, then 85% in the final exam, you receive the Humanitarian Mini MBA diploma in your name, with a unique code recruiters can check on Humanitaires Jobs. A free Humanitarian Network account is needed to take the exams.

Key concepts

The vocabulary you need to master for this course and the exam.

20% rule
An area is classified in the most severe phase that, together with the more severe phases, affects at least 20% of its population (IPC).
People in need
People whose situation reaches the selected severity threshold; they are not added up across sectors.
Indicator reference sheet
Definition, numerator, denominator, disaggregation, method, frequency, person responsible, baseline and target of an indicator.
Inclusion error
Share of people assisted who do not meet the criteria.
Exclusion error
Share of eligible people who are not assisted.
Minimum expenditure basket
Monthly cost of the goods and services a typical household needs to cover its basic needs.
Critical path
The longest sequence of dependent tasks; it sets the minimum duration of the project.
Verification ratio
Reported figure divided by the figure recounted from primary sources.
Design effect
Factor by which a cluster sample is increased: 1 + (m − 1) × ICC.
Finite population correction
n = n₀ / (1 + (n₀ − 1) / N), for small populations.
Closing the loop
Responding to every feedback item and using feedback trends to change the programme.
Counterfactual
What would have happened without the intervention.
Difference-in-differences
Change in the assisted group minus change in the comparison group, under the parallel trends assumption.
Regression discontinuity
Comparison of people just above and just below a strict eligibility threshold.
The 4Es
Economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity: the dimensions of value for money.
Management response
Document that accepts or rejects each recommendation of an evaluation, with action, person responsible and deadline.

References and recommended reading

The official texts and sector reference works on which the course is based.

  1. CHS Alliance, Groupe URD and the Sphere Project (2024). Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS). www.corehumanitarianstandard.org
  2. Sphere (2018). The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. spherestandards.org
  3. OECD DAC (2019). Better Criteria for Better Evaluation: revised evaluation criteria. www.oecd.org
  4. ALNAP (M. Buchanan-Smith, J. Cosgrave and A. Warner) (2016). Evaluation of Humanitarian Action Guide. www.alnap.org
  5. United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) (2016). Norms and Standards for Evaluation. www.unevaluation.org
  6. IPC Global Partners (2021). Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Technical Manual, Version 3.1. www.ipcinfo.org
  7. JIAF partners (2023). Joint Intersectoral Analysis Framework (JIAF 2.0). www.jiaf.info
  8. Washington Group on Disability Statistics (2022). The Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (WG-SS). www.washingtongroup-disability.com
  9. IASC (2019). IASC Guidelines on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. interagencystandingcommittee.org
  10. IASC (2019). Six Core Principles relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. interagencystandingcommittee.org
  11. ICRC and Brussels Privacy Hub (2020). Handbook on Data Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2nd edition. www.icrc.org
  12. CALP Network (2023). The State of the World's Cash. www.calpnetwork.org
  13. P. Gertler, S. Martinez, P. Premand, L. Rawlings and C. Vermeersch (World Bank) (2016). Impact Evaluation in Practice, 2nd edition. www.worldbank.org
  14. J. Mayne (ILAC) (2008). Contribution analysis: an approach to exploring cause and effect. www.betterevaluation.org