Business as Unusual:Changing the Approach to Monitoring OVC Programs

Karen G. Fleischman Foreit, PhDFutures Group/MEASURE Evaluation

The Problem

Community-based OVC programs are expected to produce comparable data to facility-based health programs, but without comparable physical infrastructure and human resources

The Premise

The information that community workers need to do their jobs is not the same as what implementers need to report to donors or governments

The Challenge

Foster use of M&E by communities

Ensure that community volunteers are not overburdened with information collection

Minimize unrealistic expectations

The Alternative

Semi-annual or annual cluster-sample surveys to monitor program performance

How do cluster-sample surveys work? 30 communities per program area

x respondents per community (e.g. 10, 19, 30)

Paid data collectors (could be para-social workers)

Mobile phone solutions for data transfer

Example from Tanzania

Community Trace and Verify

Short (10-minute) survey of caretakers

Covers minimum package of services

LQAS sampling methodology

Pass-fail scoring

005 Does [Name] have a birth certificate? Yes…1No…2Don’t know …3

 → 007

006 Could you show us the birth certificate? Yes, birth certificate shown…1No…2

  

007 Is the family enrolled with the Community Health Fund?

Yes…1No…2Don’t know …3

 → 011→ 011

008 Does the family have a Community Health Fund card?

Yes…1No…2Don’t know …3

 → 009→ 009

009 Could you show me the community health fund card?

Yes, card shown…1No…2

→ 011

010 Could you show me the receipt?  Yes, receipt shown…1No…2

 

011 Have you heard about the Most Vulnerable Child Committee?

Yes…1No…2Don’t know …3

 

012 Has [Name] been visited by a Most vulnerable Child Committee member or Volunteer in the past six months?

Yes…1No…2Don’t know …3

 → 014→ 014

Questions? Comments?

The research presented here has been supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of MEASURE Evaluation cooperative agreement GHA-A-00-08-00003-00. Views expressed are not necessarily those of PEPFAR, USAID or the United States government.

MEASURE Evaluation is implemented by the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partnership with Futures Group, ICF International, John Snow, Inc., Management Sciences for Health, and Tulane University.