Public Health Programme Leadership for District Health Managers Training Course

Course overview

District health managers are expected to convert national health priorities into services that function across facilities, communities, supply chains and partner programmes. They must make decisions with incomplete routine data, balance competing programme targets, address workforce and commodity gaps, and account for results to senior leadership, funders and local communities. This course equips managers to lead that work systematically: setting district priorities, coordinating implementation, detecting performance problems early and taking defensible corrective action.

Over five days, participants learn how to build a district public health programme plan from a situation analysis, define results chains and indicators, set realistic service-delivery targets, allocate resources and manage implementation risks. The course covers DHIS2-based performance review, data-quality checks, supportive supervision, microplanning, stakeholder coordination, outbreak and service-disruption preparedness, and practical methods for turning review-meeting findings into action trackers. Participants practise using disaggregated data to identify underperforming facilities and populations, rather than relying on district averages alone.

Teaching combines instructor-led technical sessions with a continuous district programme case study. Teams work with simulated service, workforce, commodity and budget data; conduct a root-cause analysis; prepare a quarterly performance review; and negotiate actions with programme stakeholders. Each participant leaves with a district programme leadership pack: a one-year results framework, quarterly operational plan, indicator dashboard specification, risk register, supportive-supervision plan and 90-day implementation action plan ready to adapt for their district.

The course is designed for district-level managers responsible for primary health care, disease programmes, maternal and child health, immunisation, surveillance or health-system operations. It is equally useful for managers moving from facility-level coordination into district-wide leadership roles.

Course objectives

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

• Conduct a district health situation analysis using demographic, service-utilisation, disease-burden and equity data
• Build a results framework linking programme inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, indicators and assumptions
• Set district service-delivery targets using baseline performance, coverage gaps and available capacity
• Create a quarterly operational plan with activities, owners, timelines, resource requirements and milestones
• Review DHIS2 routine data using completeness, timeliness, consistency and outlier checks
• Apply root-cause analysis and bottleneck mapping to diagnose underperformance at facility and community level
• Develop a supportive-supervision plan with structured observation, feedback and follow-up actions
• Produce a 90-day district programme improvement plan supported by a risk register and performance tracker

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• District Health Managers — who coordinate multiple programmes, facilities, partners and district performance reviews
• District Medical Officers — who need to translate clinical and public health priorities into accountable district action
• Primary Health Care Coordinators — who manage service coverage, facility performance and community outreach
• Disease Programme Coordinators — who must align vertical programme targets with district operational capacity
• Monitoring and Evaluation Officers — who convert routine health information into management decisions and action plans
• Sub-District or Health Facility Managers — who are preparing to lead wider operational planning and performance improvement

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-to-intermediate course and does not require prior formal training in public health management. Participants should have basic familiarity with how their district health system is organised, common services delivered by facilities and community teams, and routine reporting concepts such as indicators, targets and monthly reports. Experience using district reports, spreadsheets or DHIS2 is helpful but not essential. Participants should be comfortable reading tables and percentages and should bring, where permitted, an example of a current district plan or performance report. Statistical software, advanced epidemiology, finance qualifications and prior project-management certification are not required.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led briefings followed by practical district-management workshops. Participants work in teams on a simulated district with uneven immunisation coverage, stock-outs, staffing shortages and weak reporting from selected facilities. They use DHIS2-style extracts and Microsoft Excel worksheets to test data quality, identify bottlenecks, set targets and prioritise interventions. Facilitated role plays reproduce a district review meeting and supportive-supervision conversation. Each day closes with work on an individual application pack, culminating in a 90-day plan for a real or simulated district programme.

Course outline

Day 1: District public health leadership and priority setting

• Roles, accountabilities and decision rights within district health systems
• District situation analysis using population, burden, service and equity data
• Health-system building blocks applied to district programme delivery
• Problem-tree analysis for public health service-delivery challenges
• Stakeholder mapping across facilities, communities, local government and partners
• Priority-setting criteria for impact, feasibility, equity and urgency
• Translating national programme guidance into district-level priorities

Workshop: Participants complete a district situation-analysis workshop and produce a ranked priority matrix for a simulated district.

Day 2: Results-based planning and operational design

• Theory of change and results-chain construction
• Indicator selection using numerator, denominator, disaggregation and frequency
• Baseline assessment and target-setting methods
• Annual workplan design with activities, owners, timelines and dependencies
• Resource mapping for workforce, commodities, transport and partner inputs
• Microplanning for facility and community outreach services
• Assumptions, constraints and implementation-risk identification

Workshop: Participants develop a results framework and quarterly operational plan for one priority health programme.

Day 3: Routine data use and performance management

• DHIS2 data-flow architecture and district reporting responsibilities
• Data completeness, timeliness and internal-consistency checks
• Outlier detection and verification of implausible facility reports
• Coverage, dropout, utilisation and stock-out indicator interpretation
• Disaggregated analysis by facility, geography, sex, age and population group
• Dashboard design for monthly district performance review
• Performance-review agendas, action logs and escalation rules

Workshop: Participants analyse a DHIS2-style district dataset in Excel and produce a one-page performance review dashboard with priority actions.

Day 4: Implementation control, supervision and coordination

• Bottleneck mapping across demand, access, readiness, quality and continuity
• Five Whys and fishbone root-cause analysis
• Supportive-supervision planning and observation checklists
• Constructive feedback, coaching and corrective-action follow-up
• Commodity, workforce and referral-system risk management
• Partner coordination mechanisms and terms of reference
• Continuity planning for outbreaks, emergencies and service disruptions

Workshop: Participants conduct a simulated facility-performance review and produce a supportive-supervision report, corrective-action tracker and escalation plan.

Day 5: Accountability, communication and district action planning

• Quarterly programme review preparation and evidence packs
• Communicating performance findings to senior managers and local leaders
• Decision logs, accountability matrices and action-tracking disciplines
• Risk-register scoring using likelihood, impact, mitigation and trigger thresholds
• Equity-focused review of district programme decisions
• Ninety-day improvement-plan development
• Peer review of district programme leadership packs

Workshop: Participants present and refine a 90-day district programme improvement plan, receiving peer and instructor feedback before finalising their leadership pack.

Tools & standards covered

DHIS2, Microsoft Excel, WHO Data Quality Review Toolkit, WHO Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Framework

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