GH 521: Global Program Leadership and Management

An overview of the principles and practices of leadership in Global Health.

Course Description

The University of Washington (UW), Department of Global Health, in Seattle, USA, is offering a distance learning course free of charge, broadcast from Seattle to many classrooms around the world using synchronous distance communication technology.  Students at distance learning sites will meet together in groups under the leadership of a local, experienced site facilitator Groups convene once a week for two hours with students in Seattle and at other international sties using distant learning technologies. Distance students who complete the course successfully will receive an official Certificate of Completion from the UW. (Please note that no university credit is given for the course except for registered UW graduate students who are also taking the course.)

Course Eligibility

Participants should be mid-level managers or above. The course will be geared to participants with some management experience. The students at UW will be graduate students.

InstructorS

Ann Downer, EdD, Executive Director of I-TECH at UW and a Senior Lecturer in the UW Dept. of Global Health, is the lead instructor for the course. Other guest instructors will present sessions, and regular "drop in guests" will share lessons from what they have learned about leadership in short, 30 min. segments. 

Course Content

This graduate-level course engages students in discussion and learning about leadership and management in complex global health environments. It also presents challenges and approaches to assuring quality program design, monitoring and evaluation for global health projects. This is a skills-building course that utilizes lecture, discussion, case studies and other interactive exercises. Participants explore personal leaderships strengths and core values; analyze management dilemmas; practice making data-driven decisions; pose critical questions for program planning and design; gain insight into managing resources and leading people; and conceptualize program evaluation.

Course Format

Ten classroom sessions occur between March-June 2011. Each of the classroom sessions is broadcast using Adobe Connect. Teaching methods combine lecture, classroom-based discussion, and participatory exercises. Weekly homework includes reading and one assignment, and there is a final assignment. The course website contains all reading, optional video and media viewing resources, relevant links, and assignments. It will also contain an archived copy of each classroom session within 48 hours of broadcast.

Course Dates and Locations

This course includes 10 sessions broadcast on consecutive Mondays, beginning on March 28, to classrooms at the following times.

The course will be held asynchronously in the following locations:

Haiti, India and Mozambique. For contact information on these sites, please email Anneleen Severynen at odasev@uw.edu.