Case Study: WHO’s African Regional Office expands immunization training reach with BCL

WHO’s African Regional Office boosts MLM training reach with BCL, issuing 21,000 mini certificates

The African Regional Office (AFRO) of the World Health Organization faced a critical challenge: it needed to train tens of thousands of health professionals across Africa on core immunization practices but had a capacity of only 50 trainees per year. This severe throughput problem left many public health officials without the knowledge needed to save children from vaccine-preventable deaths. To expand access to its Mid-level Managers (MLM) training, AFRO engaged BCL to create an elearning solution.

BCL developed a suite of fourteen online, self-paced courses to replace the lecture-based workshop. The solution was designed for low-bandwidth environments, relying on text and images instead of rich media, and featured activity-based lessons. To minimize work disruption and attrition, BCL implemented a system where each course conferred a mini-certificate, with a master certificate awarded for completing all fourteen. This digital transformation by BCL was a resounding success: enrollment jumped to 7,500 health professionals, who earned 21,000 mini-certificates and 523 master certificates. The cost per learner plummeted from $5,000 to $150, dramatically expanding consistent, quality training across the continent.