Evidence-Based Programming

© 2001 Marcel Reyners, Courtesy of Photoshare

Successful family planning programs use research, monitoring and evaluation to guide design and implementation. These tools provide crucial information for deciding wisely how to develop in new directions, solve problems, assess effectiveness and make adjustments.

To go directly to one of the sections, click on one of the links below:

   Research

   Monitoring & Evaluation

   Technical Guidelines

   Tools

Have a suggested resource or comment about this section? Please visit our discussion board.

Interviews with Family Planning Experts (6 resources)

Included in this section of the Toolkit are a series of video interviews with family planning experts discussing the importance of monitoring and evaluation in a family planning program. Interviewees discuss the purpose and some of the challenges of monitoring and evaluation when planning and implementing programs. Interviewees also describe some of their own experiences in monitoring and evaluating family planning programs. Additionally, one interviewee talks on the importance of listening to clients and shaping programs around their needs.

    Research

      Getting Results Used: Evidence from Reproductive Health Programmatic Research in Guatemala
      2007 | Oxford University Press | 12 p
      English
      This article reviews 44 operations research projects aiming to improve reproductive health services in Guatemala, conducted by the Population Council from 1988 to 2001. It documents the experience of the research programme, traces the extent to which research results are identifiable in existing programmes, and analyses factors influencing utilization.
      [read more >]
      Accelerating Reproductive and Child Health Programme Impact With Community-Based Services: The Navrongo Experiment in Ghana
      2006 | World Health Organization [WHO] | 7 p
      Objective To determine the demographic and health impact of deploying health service nurses and volunteers to village locations with a view to scaling up results. Methods A four-celled plausibility trial was used for testing the impact of aligning community health services with the traditional social institutions that organize village life. Data from the Navrongo Demographic Surveillance System that tracks fertility and mortality events over time were used to estimate impact on fertility and mortality.
      [read more >]
      Revitalizing the IUD in Kenya
      2006 | ACQUIRE Project/EngenderHealth | 4 p
      Kenya has been a leader in family planning (FP) in Africa. It was the first Sub-Saharan African country to adopt a national FP program. From the mid-1970s to 1998, Kenya's total fertility rate fell from 8.1 to 4.7 lifetime births per woman--a decrease of 42% in 20 years. Between 1978 and 2003, the use of modern FP rose from 4% to 31% among married women. Yet, there is still a large unmet need for FP in Kenya, and long-acting and permanent methods like the IUD are underutilized.
      [read more >]
      Tanzania Baseline Survey 2004—2005: Technical Report
      2006 | ACQUIRE Project/EngenderHealth | 68 p
      A baseline study was conducted in 2004–2005 to measure the situation of RH/FP services in 10 regions of Tanzania where ACQUIRE intends to focus its interventions. The survey used a random probability sample of hospitals, health centers, and dispensaries in the focus regions. The results will be used to measure the contributions of the ACQUIRE Project toward increasing the availability of quality RH services.
      [read more >]
      Handbook for Family Planning Operations Research Design
      1991 | Population Council | 77 p
      English
      This handbook is specifically designed to help health and family planning researchers develop and write a detailed operations research proposal. It has often been used in workshops as a guide for preparing a well-written and detailed research study proposal. It is also intended to help program administrators and managers understand the process of operations research and the uses of research findings for service delivery improvement.
      [read more >]

    Monitoring & Evaluation

      Couple Years of Protection (CYP)
      No Date | U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] Knowledge Services Center
      English
      From the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), this web page explains what couple years of protection (CYP) is, how it is calculated, and the CYP coversion factors that USAID uses for various contraceptive methods.
      [read more >]
      M&E Fundamentals: A Self-Guided Minicourse
      2007 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center [CPC], MEASURE Evaluation | 82 p
      This course is based on the M&E fundamentals Web course created by MEASURE Evaluation for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Health Learning Web site at http://www.globalhealthlearning.org.  It follows an interactive version of the course found in MEASURE Evaluation’s online training resource Monitoring & Evaluation Network of Training Online Resources (MENTOR), available at http://www.cpc.unc.edu/measure/training/mentor/me_fundamentals.
      [read more >]
      Evaluating Health Communication Programmes
      2005 | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs
      English
      This piece outlines evaluation methods that are useful in assessing programme design, implementation and effects, as well as some of the challenges faced by evaluators of health communication programmes. 
      [read more >]
      Monitoring and Evaluation: Some Tools, Methods and Approaches
      2004 | International Bank for Reconstruction and Development [World Bank] | 26 p
      This resource provides an overview of a sample of M&E tools, methods, and approaches, including their purpose and use; advantages and disadvantages; costs, skills, and time required; and key references. Those illustrated here include several data collection methods, analytical frameworks, and types of evaluation and review.
      [read more >]
      Measurement and Evaluation in Performance Improvement in International Reproductive Health
      2003 | Performance Improvement | 5 p
      This article details the key aspects of measurement and evaluation for international reproductive health: standardization of care, focus on health outcomes, and how to measure individual and organizational performance.
      [read more >]
      Compendium of Indicators for Evaluating Reproductive Health Programs
      2002 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center [CPC], MEASURE Evaluation | 210 p
      Volume 2
      The general objective of this Compendium is to encourage program evaluation and to improve the quality of work in this area. To this end, the Compendium provides a comprehensive listing of the most widely used indicators for evaluating reproductive health programs in developing countries.
      [read more >]
      M&E Fundamentals Course
      Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs, Information and Knowledge for Optimal Health [INFO]
      Take the course
      This course highlights key program elements that can be monitored, such as supply inventories, number of vaccine doses administered monthly, and patient outcomes. It specifies the requirements for evaluations, such as data collection, control groups, and a well-planned study design. It stresses the importance of M&E to make informed programming decisions, ensure the best use of resources, and objectively assess the extent to which a program is having or has had a desired impact.
      [read more >]

    Technical Guidelines

    Tools