Mastering Focus Groups in Humanitarian and Development Work

Self-Study Certificate Course

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Focus Groups in Relief, Humanitarian & Development Work

Focus groups are dynamic platforms for understanding the diverse needs, perspectives, and aspirations of the communities you serve. This training equips you with the skills to plan and facilitate impactful focus group discussions, transforming community insights into actionable strategies for more effective and sustainable initiatives.

These skills help project teams to:

  • Engage communities through inclusive and meaningful dialogue, fostering ownership and trust.
  • Tailor strategies to align with the aspirations and priorities of beneficiaries.
  • Strengthen project planning and implementation with actionable, community-driven insights.
  • Enhance sustainability by embedding community engagement into decision-making processes.

Gain the expertise to:

  • Plan and Facilitate Effective Focus Groups: Master techniques to design, conduct, and analyze discussions in diverse cultural and socio-economic contexts.
  • Foster Community-Centric Decision-Making: Ensure inclusive participation and representation, empowering communities to co-create solutions that reflect their needs.
  • Ask Strategic Questions: Develop the skills to craft thoughtful, impactful questions that elicit actionable insights for addressing development challenges.
  • Analyze and Integrate Qualitative Data: Learn advanced methods to analyze focus group findings and integrate them into project planning, monitoring, and evaluation.

Who Should Attend?

This training is designed for professionals working in relief, humanitarian, or development contexts who want to enhance their ability to engage with communities through focus groups. It’s ideal for:

  • Field staff conducting needs assessments or gathering community feedback.
  • Project managers and officers seeking to incorporate community voices into program design.
  • Monitoring and evaluation teams aiming to enrich their data with qualitative insights.

Course Process

This course offers a self-paced, practical learning experience, combining study materials, reflections, exercises, and end-of-module assessments to ensure effective results. Designed with real-world application in mind, the course encourages you to pause, reflect, and actively develop skills you can confidently apply to your own projects as you learn. Here's what you can expect:

  • Flexible self-study: Access practical downloadable video presentations, transcripts, handouts, exercises, and tasks, allowing you to learn and apply skills at your own pace.
  • Knowledge checks: Assessments at the end of each module test your understanding, reinforce learning, and help you reflect on key concepts.
  • Certification of professional achievement: Upon successful completion, earn a certificate that recognizes your skills, dedication to learning, and commitment to professional excellence.

See the full curriculum below.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss whether this course is suitable for you or your team, feel free to email or chat with us.

COURSE CURRICULUM


  FOCUS GROUPS IN RELIEF, HUMANITARIAN AND DEVELOPMENT CONTEXTS
Available in days
days after you sign up
  FOCUS GROUPS IN PRACTICE
Available in days
days after you sign up
  CHALLENGES AND APPLICATIONS OF FOCUS GROUPS IN DEVELOPMENT CONTEXTS
Available in days
days after you sign up

Your Instructor


Neil Kendrick
Neil Kendrick

Leading ELD Training with over 25 years of experience, Neil Kendrick from the UK specializes in Professional Writing, Reporting Skills, Proposal Writing, Results-Based Management, and Monitoring & Evaluation. He has trained and coached humanitarian and development professionals from hundreds of organizations in over 20 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.


How to Enroll

You can sign up immediately using secure credit card payment below. For individuals or organizations unable to pay by credit card or looking to enroll multiple participants, please contact us to discuss alternative payment options, including bank transfers or group enrollment packages..

Tiered Pricing

We understand that organizations in the humanitarian and development sector have varying financial capabilities. To ensure accessibility, we offer a two-tiered pricing system based on your budget. Simply choose the pricing tier that best suits your organization's needs.

Both pricing tiers provide the same high-quality self-study experience—lifetime access to video sessions, downloadable resources, end-of-module assessments, and a certificate of completion—ensuring you receive full value regardless of the option you select. This approach allows us to maintain our commitment to quality while making the training accessible to those who need it most.

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"Focus groups have transformative potential. When we actively listen to communities, tailoring strategies based on their insights and fostering ongoing engagement, development initiatives become more effective, more sustainable and aligned with the aspirations and priorities of the people they aim to serve."