Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai

Programme Overview

This four-day professional course equips health practitioners with the technical competencies required to establish, supervise, and standardise community-based growth monitoring systems. Participants master primary anthropometric protocols, focusing on the prevention, early detection, and monitoring of child stunting and acute malnutrition. The curriculum aligns with the World Health Organisation Child Growth Standards and operational frameworks implemented across donor-funded health and social protection programmes in Southeast Asia, ensuring strict data fidelity at the community level.

Delegates engage in rigorous practical sessions covering precise measurement methodologies, data quality verification, and the interpretation of growth faltering trajectories. Beyond measurement, the course addresses structural linkages between health posts, community health worker networks, and therapeutic feeding facilities. Participants review standard operating procedures that connect regular nutritional assessments with clinical interventions, maternal and child cash transfers, and targeted infant and young child feeding counselling across decentralised service delivery networks.

Structured specifically for professionals operating in resource-constrained and transition settings, the training demonstrates how to establish robust community-to-facility referral pathways. By integrating community-based surveillance with social protection initiatives, attendees learn to direct vulnerable households to specialised clinical care and supplementary assistance. The programme culminates in operational action plans designed to standardise monitoring protocols, reduce measurement error, and maintain data integrity within national and sub-national health information systems.

Decentralised nutrition initiatives and maternal and child social assistance mechanisms increasingly depend on rigorous, community-level growth verification to direct critical support. Child development milestones and regular anthropometric assessments serve as operational prerequisites for household enrolment in conditional support frameworks, such as the Maternal and Child Cash Transfers for Improved Nutrition Project. Maintaining precise growth monitoring ensures that moderately and severely malnourished infants are systematically identified, registered, and referred to clinical and nutritional facilities without operational delays.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Chiang Mai, Thailand, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Principles of linear growth assessment and biological mechanisms of childhood stunting
• WHO Child Growth Standards: Application of z-scores and growth velocity curves
• Practical calibration and maintenance of infant length boards, stadiometers, and SECA scales
• Techniques for recumbent length, standing height, and mid-upper arm circumference measurement
• Minimising technical error of measurement and eliminating observer bias in field settings
• Designing community-based growth monitoring and promotion service delivery points
• Standardising community health worker task distribution, supervision schedules, and tally tools
• Establishing longitudinal child health cards and community register documentation practices
• Theory of change and results chains
• Logical frameworks and results frameworks
• SMART indicators, baselines and targets
• Data collection methods and tools

It is designed for primary health supervisors managing community health posts and decentralised clinics, nutrition monitors responsible for field-level growth surveillance and anthropometric data quality, maternal and child health coordinators directing district-level health programmes and others who want practical, current skills in monitoring and evaluation.

The Growing Importance of Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai

Governments and financiers want to know what changed, not only what was spent. Results frameworks, indicators and credible evidence now decide how programmes are judged and whether they receive further funding.

Many teams collect large amounts of data but struggle to turn it into decisions. Strong monitoring and evaluation links activities to results, shows progress early and supports learning across the institution.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Design results frameworks with measurable indicators
• Collect and check data that can be trusted
• Analyse progress and explain variances
• Plan and manage evaluations
• Use evidence to adjust plans and report results

Strong monitoring and evaluation systems help organisations:

• Show results clearly to financiers and citizens
• Detect delays and problems early
• Improve the quality of decisions
• Meet reporting and evaluation requirements

This Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Primary health supervisors managing community health posts and decentralised clinics
• Nutrition monitors responsible for field-level growth surveillance and anthropometric data quality
• Maternal and child health coordinators directing district-level health programmes
• Public health officers overseeing maternal and child cash transfer operational sites
• Field nutritionists supporting community-based management of acute malnutrition programmes
• Health and nutrition project officers from international and local non-governmental organisations
• Monitoring and evaluation officers tracking nutritional status and early childhood indicators
• Social protection field coordinators linking cash assistance to health centre attendance
• District health managers standardising child growth monitoring protocols across local facilities
• M&E officers and managers
• Project and programme managers
• PIU staff responsible for reporting

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training, participants will be able to:

• Execute standardised anthropometric measurements in full compliance with World Health Organisation standards
• Calculate and interpret key nutrition indices, including length-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-length z-scores
• Establish functional facility-to-community growth monitoring workflows and decentralised monitoring stations
• Design standard operating procedures for active screening, case-finding, and bilateral referral pathways
• Integrate anthropometric verification mechanisms into maternal and child cash transfer delivery frameworks
• Implement field-level data quality assurance audits to detect and resolve systematic measurement errors
• Develop multi-sectoral communication protocols linking primary healthcare clinics, nutrition units, and social welfare desks
• Build a theory of change and results chain for a programme
• Design a results framework with SMART indicators
• Set baselines, targets and means of verification

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training Methodology

The training is delivered through practical, hands-on learning designed for frontline and supervisory professionals. Delivery includes intensive anthropometric laboratory exercises where participants calibrate equipment, measure standardised models, and compute technical errors of measurement. Facilitators use real case studies, community register reconciliation scenarios, and structured role-playing of clinical referral handovers. Working in peer teams, participants critique routine field datasets, identify systematic reporting errors, and draft institutional workflow standard operating procedures ready for immediate field implementation.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group. Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training, participants will be able to:

• Mastery in obtaining accurate recumbent length, height, and mid-upper arm circumference measurements
• Ability to calculate and interpret z-scores to differentiate acute, chronic, and severe malnutrition
• Operational competency to set up and supervise village-level growth monitoring sessions
• Standardised referral protocols connecting community screenings with therapeutic care and cash assistance
• Enhanced supervisory capacity to audit and correct routine nutrition data before statutory reporting
• Completed institutional action plan to standardise growth surveillance workflows in home operational contexts
• Design results frameworks with measurable indicators
• Set baselines and targets that can be tracked

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Results frameworks
• Indicator systems
• Data quality
• Evaluation planning
• Results reporting

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Indicator reference sheets
• Data collection tools
• Progress reports
• Evaluation terms of reference
• Learning reviews

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply monitoring and evaluation within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in monitoring and evaluation increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on monitoring and evaluation. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to monitoring and evaluation that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Chiang Mai, Thailand brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how monitoring and evaluation is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Thailand

Training programmes and study tours in Chiang Mai suit professionals working in public administration, community development, environmental resource management, and regional tourism planning.

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Readiness Assessment
• Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai Training Manual
• Theory of Change Template
• Indicator Reference Sheet Template
• Data Quality Checklist
• Evaluation Terms of Reference Template
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Results Framework Review Guide
• Progress Report Template
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions design results frameworks with measurable indicators?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Anthropometric Precision and WHO Growth Standards), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions collect and check data that can be trusted?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Community-Based Growth Monitoring Systems Architecture), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions analyse progress and explain variances?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (Referral Linkages, CMAM, and Cash Transfer Integration), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions plan and manage evaluations?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Data Governance, Quality Assurance, and Action Planning), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions use evidence to adjust plans and report results?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Anthropometric Precision and WHO Growth Standards), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the Community-Based Stunting and Child Growth Monitoring in Chiang Mai programme take place?

It runs from 3 May 2027 to 6 May 2027, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for primary health supervisors managing community health posts and decentralised clinics, nutrition monitors responsible for field-level growth surveillance and anthropometric data quality, maternal and child health coordinators directing district-level health programmes, public health officers overseeing maternal and child cash transfer operational sites, and others who want practical skills in monitoring and evaluation.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in monitoring and evaluation?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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