Impact evaluation & MEL

Our team developed an FETP impact evaluation framework and has applied it across all tiers of FETP training. We can support you to evaluate your own program or conduct an independent evaluation on your behalf, and we can review and strengthen your routine program monitoring and evaluation.

A framework built for FETPs

In 2025, we undertook a comprehensive review and redesign of MEL tools and processes across the Intermediate FETP, the One Health Frontline FETP and the Rapid Response Team program, and completed an impact evaluation of PNG's FETPs using our structured, theory-based impact evaluation framework — developed for the global FETP community, not just our own programs.

What the evidence shows

The evaluation found FETPs significantly improved field epidemiology competencies across frontline, intermediate and advanced programs:

Competency Intermediate FETP Advanced FETP

Data management 88% 88%

Data collection 90% 94%

Data analysis 94% 82%

Report writing 76% 82%

(% of graduates reporting improvement)

Real-world impact

These competency gains translated into tangible outcomes for communities across PNG, including a 100% MDR-TB treatment success rate through patient and supporter incentives, pentavalent vaccine coverage lifted from 24% to 62% through targeted interventions, integrated TB/HIV one-stop clinics, new aid posts that reduced district caseloads, and waiting houses built for pregnant women from remote communities.

As one Advanced FETP graduate put it: "Previously, we relied on assumptions. After FETP, I learned to use data to guide decisions… to collect data, analyse data, interpret data, and report findings, then trying to understand potential outbreaks and attending to the outbreak."