From Data to Action: Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation Skills Through Learning, Collaboration and Innovation

From 20 June tp 3 July 2026, UNU Global Health partnered with the Health Performance Unit, Ministry of Health Malaysia, to deliver a five-day Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Training Course in Kuala Lumpur, bringing together 60 participants from the Ministry of Health, academia, and international organisations. The course aimed to strengthen participants' knowledge and practical skills in measuring programme and policy impact and advancing evidence-based decision-making in public health and related fields.

Throughout the week, participants engaged in interactive sessions led by Dr Claudia Abreu Lopes (UNU Global Health) and Dr Saravanan S.R. Sundaramurthy (Ministry of Health Malaysia) covering M&E frameworks, results based management and stakeholder-based participatory approaches, implementation research, data systems, ethics and standards, risk assessment, competency frameworks, and the emerging applications of artificial intelligence for evaluation. Participants also benefited from the expertise of Dr Arnaud Vaganay (What Works Centre for Children and Families, UK), Calum Handforth (Chief Digital Office UNDP), Prof. Dr Savita Bailur (SIPA, Columbia University), and Najiihah Ahmad Fikri (SIPA, Columbia University). 

The discussion with these experts centered around case studies and groupwork on evaluation personalities (What’s Your Evaluation Personality? (And Why It Matters More Than You Think), evaluation of AI-based healthcare interventions, and gender bias in LLMs (Bias in, bias out? How we’re understanding more about gender bias in LLMs - MERL Tech).

We thank all participants, speakers, and partners for their engagement and contributions throughout the course, fostering a rich environment for learning and exchange.