Figure It Out 2027

/ Fri, 11/13/2026 - 09:13 / Comments

About the course

One policy question, from design to advice

Figure It Out (FiO) is a free, online, 15-week course in which you design, analyse and defend an impact evaluation of a health intervention you invent yourself. It is offered to researchers in the East African Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR) network by the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD – Amsterdam UMC).

FiO started in 2020 in the Research Master in Global Health at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In 2024 it expanded to EACCR, and 2027 is the third EACCR round. The whole course is built around one question:

Can decentralising hypertension care reduce blood pressure among people with elevated or high blood pressure?

Each group picks a country, designs an intervention to answer that question, and in the end advises that country's Ministry of Health whether to scale it up.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course you can

Draft a quantitative research proposal for a specific health policy question
Choose and justify an impact evaluation design (randomised or quasi-experimental)
Apply basic and advanced quantitative analysis techniques in R, Stata or Python, including difference-in-differences, multilevel models and methods for missing data
Summarise the findings of a quantitative analysis
Write a brief advisory report based on those findings and other available evidence
Present quantitative findings to an expert audience

Who should apply

Researchers at EACCR member institutions

The course is for early- and mid-career researchers at EACCR member institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia who want hands-on experience with impact evaluation.

Prior knowledge: Basic statistics (regression, hypothesis testing). You do not need prior experience with impact evaluation methods.
Software: A laptop with R or Python (both free) or Stata installed, and a stable internet connection for live online sessions.
Time commitment: About 6 hours per week: a 2-hour live session, group work and, from May, a 1-hour consultation.
Group size: Places are limited to 20 participants, so we can give each group close supervision.
Supervisor support: Your supervisor or line manager should agree to the time you will spend on the course.

The course is free of charge.

Format and schedule

Live online, every Friday

All sessions are live online from 5 March to 11 June 2027. The time stays the same throughout the course.

15:00–17:00

Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia (EAT)

14:00–16:00

Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia, eastern DRC (e.g. Lubumbashi, Goma)

13:00–15:00

Western DRC (e.g. Kinshasa)

From the week of 10 May, once you have your dataset, each group gets its own weekly 1-hour consultation with hands-on guidance on the analysis, such as help with coding in R, Stata or Python. We schedule these with each group at a time that suits you, up to the mock presentations on 4 June. In the week of 7 June, each group has a final 30-minute check-in to work through the feedback from the mock. There are no sessions on public holidays in the participating countries.

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Recruitment

Applications open

1 Nov – 15 Jan

Applications close

15 Jan

Selection results

29 Jan

Onboarding + setup

22 Feb – 26 Feb

Course

Lectures

5 Mar – 14 May

Study design

9 Apr – 3 May

Study design due

3 May

Analysis + policy brief

10 May – 11 Jun

Group consultations

10 May – 4 Jun

Mock presentations

4 Jun

Final check-in

7 Jun – 10 Jun

Expert panel + brief due

11 Jun

No session

26 Mar

30 Apr

28 May

Diamonds mark single dates; open orange diamonds mark Fridays without a session. The dashed line is the expert panel on 11 June.

Date	Session	Lecturer	Assignment
Fri 5 Mar	Course introduction + overview of quantitative study designs	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Readings 1–3
Fri 12 Mar	Trial design + example from Ghana	Dr Guus ten Asbroek	Readings 4–5
Fri 19 Mar	Quasi-experimental designs + difference-in-differences	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Readings 6–7
Fri 26 Mar	No session (Good Friday)	—	—
Fri 2 Apr	Survey design + survey weights	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Start protocol e-learning (reading 8)
Fri 9 Apr	Study proposal and protocol	To be confirmed	Develop study design
Fri 16 Apr	Research budget	Mark van Knegsel	Develop study design
Fri 23 Apr	Difference-in-differences in R/Stata/Python	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Peer feedback on another group's design
Fri 30 Apr	No session (Ethiopian Good Friday)	—	Study design due Mon 3 May
Fri 7 May	Multilevel modelling in R/Stata/Python	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Datasets released Mon 10 May
Fri 14 May	Handling missing data + other useful tips for your analysis	Dr Daniëlla Brals	Analysis and brief
Fri 21 May	No session (group consultations)	—	Analysis and brief
Fri 28 May	No session (national holiday, Ethiopia)	—	Analysis and brief
Fri 4 Jun	Mock presentations	Course team	Revise; 30-minute check-in per group
Fri 11 Jun	Final presentations to the expert panel	AIGHD expert panel	Brief + analysis code due

Assessment and certificate

Four deliverables and a certificate

You receive a certificate of completion from AIGHD when you attend at least 80% of the live sessions and your group submits all four deliverables.

Deliverable	Who	Due
Study design and analysis plan (2–3 pages)	Group	Mon 3 May
Analysis script (R, Stata or Python)	Individual	Fri 11 Jun
Analysis and policy brief	Group	Fri 11 Jun
Presentation to the expert panel	Group	Fri 11 Jun

Every deliverable gets written feedback from the course team. The expert panel gives feedback on your presentation and your scale-up recommendation.

Faculty

Who teaches the course

Dr Daniëlla Brals

Course coordinator, AIGHD

Dr Guus ten Asbroek

AIGHD · Trial design

To be confirmed

AIGHD · Study proposal and protocol

Mark van Knegsel

AIGHD · Research budgets

The expert panel consists of at least three senior AIGHD researchers.

Readings

Real evaluations from sub-Saharan Africa

Each reading illustrates the design taught in the session it belongs to.

Effect of the Newhints home-visits intervention on neonatal mortality rate and care practices in Ghana: a cluster randomised controlled trial Ghana · cluster RCT
Newhints cluster randomised trial in rural Ghana: trial protocol Ghana · protocol
Promoting skin-to-skin care for low birthweight babies: findings from the Ghana Newhints cluster-randomised trial Ghana · cluster RCT
The effect of health insurance and health facility-upgrades on hospital deliveries in rural Nigeria: a controlled interrupted time-series study Nigeria · interrupted time series
The impact of subsidized private health insurance and health facility upgrades on healthcare utilization and spending in rural Nigeria Nigeria · difference-in-differences
Can school-based distribution be used to maintain coverage of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets: evidence from southern Tanzania? Tanzania · survey
Evaluation of long-lasting insecticidal net distribution through schools in Southern Tanzania Tanzania · survey
The Global Health Network e-learning: The Study Protocol e-learning · Parts 1 and 2

How to apply

Apply by 15 January 2027

The application form asks for your contact details, institution, country, current position and highest level of education, and a short motivation paragraph (up to 150 words) on why impact evaluation matters for your work.

Open the application form