Global Laboratory Leadership Programme Learning Package

The Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) is a unique workforce development initiative with the goal to foster and mentor current and emerging laboratory leaders to build, strengthen, and sustain national laboratory systems. 

Acknowledging the interrelatedness of human, animal, and environmental health, the six GLLP Partners have joined forces to develop the GLLP programme and its Learning Package: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).   

The GLLP Learning Package provides practical guidance and resources to help any region, country, or educational institution plan, deliver, and evaluate its laboratory leadership programme. More than 150 experts from the human, animal and environmental health sectors contributed to the development and review of the GLLP Learning Package.

The GLLP Learning Package is composed of

• a Welcome Kit, 
• an Implementation toolbox, and 
• course materials.

The Welcome Kit introduces the programme’s key features and includes the Laboratory Leadership Competency Framework, outlining the essential competencies needed by laboratory leaders to build and direct sustainable national laboratory systems. This framework underpins the GLLP Learning Package.

The Implementation Toolbox contains templates and tools organized by implementation phase, in line with the Implementation Roadmap. It includes guidance for the Mentorship and Project components, templates for selecting participants, mentors and instructors, as well as tools to monitor and evaluate programme performance.

The course materials are organized into four sections  - Introduction, Laboratory Management, Laboratory Leadership, and Laboratory Systems - comprising 13 units and 43 modules, with over 200 contact hours of content, all grounded in a strong One Health approach.

Based on feedback and lessons learned from country implementations, an updated version of the Learning Package is available as of July 2026. Key improvements include:

• newly developed Training of Trainers and Mentors package
• expanded Planning and Implementation Guide, Mentorship Guide and Project Development Guide
• updated Readiness Self-Assessment Guide and budget template
• revised tools for programme organizers, including Terms of Reference and recruitment tools
• strengthened monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools
• fully revised Laboratory Information Management Systems module (2.A.4) and Quality Management System modules (2.B.1 to 2.B.8)

To access GLLP course materials, please create an account by clicking on ‘Register’ at the top of the page.

Upon registration, all materials are freely available. Please note that GLLP materials are intended for non-commercial use only, and GLLP should be acknowledged as the source. These materials are a shared resource of the GLLP Partners.

The materials available on this page are also available via the APHL Learning Center: https://learn.aphl.org/learn/courses/793/global-laboratory-leadership-programme-learning-package.

For additional information or to share your feedback on the GLLP materials and help us improve the package, please use the Contact us form.