SRHR: Policy, Governance and Financing
Amsterdam, Netherlands
DURATION
3 Weeks
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
20 Mar 2025
EARLIEST START DATE
12 May 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 1,980 / per course *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for regular | early bird fee € 1.584 and € 1.584 | tropEd fee € 1.782
Introduction
What are the key issues in the good governance of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)? How can one negotiate the complex political and financial terrain when developing policies and strategic plans? Maternal health, family planning, adolescent health, abortion and HIV, and the policies and strategies that address these, are among the most internationalized and to some extent politicized of all health issues.
Participants identify SRHR-related international agreements, development commitments and financial mechanisms, and analyse how these influence national policies and plans and vice versa. They will perform an SRHR strategic policy review from a multi-stakeholder perspective, addressing governance, human rights and financing structures and their implications for planning and managing comprehensive SRHR.
This course can be taken as part of the MPH-HE SRHR track, after following SRHR Matters and SRHR Responses, or as a stand-alone short course(*). Participants will leave with advanced knowledge and skills essential for performing policy analysis.
This course is tropEd accredited and can be followed as a stand-alone or a specialisation course of the Master in Public Health and Health Equity programme.
Accommodation
There is a severe shortage of student accommodation in Amsterdam and participants are advised to contact KIT for information. KIT will endeavour to assist participants in their search for housing.
Accreditation
This course is also accredited for the Master of Science in Public Health and Health Equity, organised by KIT Institute and tropEd, a network of European institutions for higher education in international health.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
Learning methods
A variety of learning methods is used, most importantly:
- Interactive lectures, including problem analysis activities, case studies, plenary and small group discussions, tutorials
- On-site e-learning includes interactive exercises, such as an online quiz and a role-play/debate
- One journal club session
- Group work mostly linked to the lectures
- Self-study
The educational approach is based on the following social constructivist learning principles, specifically:
- Takes the knowledge and (working) experience of the participants as a starting point
- Is problem-oriented and is focused on the practical application of the course content
- Is competency-based: aimed at improving participants' competencies to implement and evaluate context-specific approaches to address health problems.
Participants are usually from various nationalities and are expected to actively share their experiences in interaction to contribute to learning and strengthening knowledge and competencies.
The course takes place mainly on KIT premises through in-person learning activities but also has online and self-study components. The main online platforms used are Teams/Zoom and the KIT Virtual Grounds.
Assessment
Participants will be assessed on a final individual paper (100%) (summative assessment). The final paper is a policy brief (2,000 words +/- 10%), addressing a specific SRHR-related policy issue.
Course content
The following subjects are covered during the course:
- SRHR-related international agreements, development commitments and financial mechanisms
- SRHR-related policy analysis
- Health and SRHR governance issues
- International SRHR-related aid architecture
- Health systems and financing issues, incl. health insurance related to SRHR
- Human rights and advocacy for SRHR
- Role of the private sector in the field of SRHR
- Role of the UN mechanisms in advocating for SRHR
- Mobilising and coordinating with local communities and other stakeholders in the field of SRHR
Program Outcome
Objectives
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify and discuss relevant SRH rights and development-related international agreements, development commitments and financial mechanisms
- Analyse how these international agreements (including the UN mechanisms), commitments and related governance and financing mechanisms influence national development policy, planning and implementation, and vice-versa.
- Analyse policies and governance, human rights and financing structures and identify implications for planning and managing the SHRH responses and interventions
- Use the UN mechanisms to advocate for SRHR at the national and international levels.
- Perform an SRHR strategic policy review from a multi-stakeholder perspective, including the mobilisation of stakeholders from different sectors and communicate this in the form of a policy brief.