ArcGIS Mapping for Programme Monitoring Training Course

Course overview

Programme teams often collect large volumes of activity, beneficiary, service-delivery and field-monitoring data but struggle to turn them into maps that answer operational questions. Managers need to see where outputs are falling behind plan, which communities remain underserved, where access constraints overlap with programme locations, and whether reported results are spatially plausible. Static maps prepared at the end of a reporting cycle rarely support timely action. This course equips monitoring and evaluation staff to build repeatable ArcGIS workflows that connect indicator data, geographic boundaries and field observations for routine programme monitoring.

Participants work with ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, Survey123 and ArcGIS Dashboards to prepare spatial monitoring data, create meaningful maps and publish controlled web products. They learn to structure location-based indicator datasets; join results data to administrative units and programme sites; calculate coverage and variance measures; apply symbology that supports interpretation; analyse proximity, catchment areas and service gaps; and configure dashboards for management reporting. The course also addresses data quality, coordinate systems, metadata, protection of sensitive locations and map-design choices for humanitarian and development audiences.

Teaching is built around a realistic multi-district programme-monitoring case. Each day combines instructor demonstration with guided ArcGIS exercises, troubleshooting clinics and peer review of map decisions. By the final day, every participant has produced a reusable monitoring package: a cleaned spatial dataset, an ArcGIS Pro map project, a published web map, a Survey123 field form and an ArcGIS Dashboard showing selected indicators, geographic coverage and priority locations. This deliverable can be adapted to an existing project, grant or response portfolio.

The course is suited to M&E professionals, GIS staff, programme managers and information-management personnel who need to use location intelligence in evidence-based implementation decisions.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure an ArcGIS Pro project with geodatabases, coordinate systems, folder connections and metadata for a programme-monitoring workflow
• Prepare beneficiary, activity and indicator datasets for mapping by cleaning fields, validating locations and applying consistent geographic identifiers
• Join monitoring results to administrative boundaries, programme sites and service locations using ArcGIS attribute and spatial joins
• Create choropleth, proportional-symbol and point maps that communicate target, achievement, coverage and variance indicators accurately
• Calculate service catchments, proximity measures and geographic gaps using ArcGIS buffer, near and overlay analysis tools
• Design a Survey123 field-monitoring form with location capture, validation rules, repeat sections and secure publication settings
• Publish a web map and configure an ArcGIS Dashboard with indicator widgets, filters, lists and map actions for management use
• Produce a documented spatial monitoring package containing a map project, web map, dashboard and data-quality checklist

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Monitoring and Evaluation Officers — who need to map indicator performance and identify geographic disparities in programme results
• Programme Managers — who must direct implementation resources toward low-coverage, delayed or high-priority locations
• GIS Officers — who support development or humanitarian teams with repeatable monitoring maps and web products
• Information Management Officers — who combine field, administrative and operational data for situation and performance reporting
• MEAL Coordinators — who need defensible spatial evidence for learning, accountability and donor reporting
• Field Coordinators — who need to plan visits, verify site coverage and communicate local implementation constraints

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable using Windows, managing files and folders, and working with spreadsheet tables containing rows, columns and basic formulas. Familiarity with programme indicators, results frameworks, activity monitoring or administrative boundaries is helpful because exercises use targets, achievements and geographic coverage data. No previous ArcGIS, coding, cartography or advanced statistics experience is required. Complete beginners should expect a paced introduction to the ArcGIS interface before moving into practical analysis. Participants may bring an existing non-sensitive monitoring dataset, but a structured training dataset is provided.

Training methodology

The course uses a single development and humanitarian programme case that runs from raw monitoring records to a management dashboard. Short instructor-led demonstrations are followed by individual ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online labs using prepared boundaries, site lists, targets and field observations. Participants compare map classifications, diagnose data-quality issues and work in small groups to prioritise locations from spatial evidence. Daily review sessions connect technical choices to M&E decisions. The final workshop includes an application plan for adapting the workflow, governance rules and reporting products to each participant's organisation.

Course outline

Day 1: Building a spatial monitoring data foundation

• Programme monitoring questions that require geographic evidence
• ArcGIS Pro interface, projects, catalogs and geodatabases
• Coordinate reference systems and datum selection for programme locations
• Administrative boundaries, programme sites and beneficiary-location data models
• Attribute-table design for targets, achievements, disaggregation and reporting periods
• Data cleaning with field calculations, domains and null-value checks
• Metadata, source documentation and sensitivity classification for monitoring data

Workshop: Participants create an ArcGIS Pro project and geodatabase, import a multi-district monitoring dataset, document its sources and correct identified location and attribute errors.

Day 2: Mapping indicators and performance patterns

• Joining indicator tables to administrative polygons using geographic codes
• Spatial joins between monitoring records, programme sites and service areas
• Indicator calculations for achievement rates, variance and geographic coverage
• Choropleth classification methods for rates, counts and percentages
• Proportional symbols, graduated symbols and bivariate map design choices
• Labels, pop-ups, scale ranges and layout elements for operational maps
• Map interpretation checks for denominator errors, small numbers and misleading patterns

Workshop: Participants build a district-level target-versus-achievement map and a site-level activity map, then conduct a peer review using a monitoring-map quality checklist.

Day 3: Analysing access, reach and service gaps

• Buffer analysis for service reach and operational travel thresholds
• Near analysis for distance from communities to programme facilities
• Overlay analysis using intersect, clip and union tools
• Selecting priority areas with attribute queries and spatial selections
• Catchment-area assumptions and limitations in humanitarian service mapping
• Comparing programme coverage against population and vulnerability layers
• Interpreting spatial patterns without overstating causality

Workshop: Participants analyse a service-delivery scenario to identify settlements outside an agreed facility catchment and produce a prioritised gap map with supporting statistics.

Day 4: Collecting and publishing field monitoring information

• ArcGIS Online content, groups, sharing levels and organisational access controls
• Hosted feature layers and feature-layer views for monitoring datasets
• Survey123 form design for site visits and activity verification
• Location capture, geopoints, geopoint defaults and map questions in Survey123
• Validation rules, required fields, constraints and conditional visibility
• Repeat sections for multiple observations and follow-up actions
• Field-data protection for sensitive sites, respondents and protection incidents

Workshop: Participants design and publish a Survey123 monitoring form for a site-verification visit, test validation logic and submit records to a hosted feature layer.

Day 5: Dashboard reporting and operational application

• Publishing ArcGIS Pro layers and web maps to ArcGIS Online
• Web-map symbology, pop-ups and scale-dependent visibility
• ArcGIS Dashboards indicators, serial charts, lists and category selectors
• Dashboard actions and filters for district, partner and reporting-period analysis
• Data-refresh schedules and version-control practices for recurring reports
• Quality assurance checks before sharing maps and dashboards with management
• Workflow ownership, governance and application planning for programme teams

Workshop: Participants publish a web map and build an ArcGIS Dashboard for the case programme, then present their priority findings and a 90-day implementation plan.

Tools & standards covered

ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Dashboards

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions