MEASURE Evaluation in Tanzania

MEASURE Evaluation’s activities in Tanzania have been varied and have expanded in scope over time. While activities originally focused exclusively on strategic information and building the capacity of local partners in Tanzania to monitor and evaluate their HIV/AIDS programs and report back to USAID, MEASURE Evaluation’s work in the country expanded to include support for strategic planning for the Department of Social Welfare, as well as U.S. government-supported HIV prevention efforts. MEASURE Evaluation has provided specialized back-up in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and research methods.

Assessing Data Quality

Producing complete, accurate and timely data for reporting and to inform decision making is a primary function of M&E. With this priority, MEASURE Evaluation has helped nearly 40 implementing partners in Tanzania, such as FHI360, The Salvation Army, PATH and Africare and their local sub-grantees, improve their M&E systems and capacity. Capacity building begins with a Data Quality Assessment (DQA), followed by customized training workshops, mentoring, and on-the-job technical assistance. Some partners have undergone subsequent “mini”-DQAs to measure progress. To ensure sustainability, MEASURE Evaluation has worked closely with a local Tanzanian firm, providing feedback and mentoring to senior management and field staff, to carry out the DQAs in addition to building M&E capacity within each individual implementing partner.  

Data Demand and Use

In addition to high-quality data, a strong demand for and use of data to make informed decisions is another crucial component of an effective health system. To strengthen Data Demand and Use (DDU) in Tanzania, MEASURE Evaluation has worked at the district-level to introduce DDU tools and to provide follow-up guidance on appropriate strategies. A sampling of relevant activities include:

• Creating a Data Demand and Use action plan that outlines DDU activities for council health medical teams in Tanzania’s Dodoma, Morogor, Singida, Iringa, and Njombe regions,
• Following up the action plan with routine supervision and mentoring to monitor the teams’ implementation of the plan in individual districts,
• Supporting Data Demand and Use workshops in each region so that districts can share best practices and lessons learned with each other, and
• Piloting a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-focused DDU workshop in Iringa region.

Mapping of HIV/AIDS Programs in Iringa Region

Aligning HIV/AIDS prevention programs according to the geographic and demographic distribution of a country’s epidemic makes most effective use of local resources. USAID set out to scale up this process in Tanzania’s Iringa region, which has the country’s highest HIV prevalence rate. To help carry out this effort, MEASURE Evaluation implemented an activity that mapped out sites where high-risk behaviors occur. HIV prevention, care, and treatment sites supported by U.S. government partners (CDC and USAID), other donors, and local government were also mapped. MEASURE Evaluation then worked with local consultants to carry out the first two phases of a PLACE assessment in Iringa. Reports from each activity help USAID-Tanzania and HIV-prevention implementing partners make decisions about HIV prevention programming and how to allocate resources most effectively.

To ensure that local decision makers in Tanzania have the ability to maximize the value of collected data, MEASURE Evaluation followed up the mapping and PLACE activities with a series of workshops to help local government staff interpret maps to make decisions about HIV programming in Iringa. 

Orphans and Vulnerable Children

MEASURE Evaluation has concentrated much of its support in Tanzania on the country’s orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) programs. Initially, work focused specifically on helping USAID OVC partners to strengthen their M&E systems. This was done through conducting data quality assessments (DQA) to determine where the strengths and weaknesses were in the system. Based on the findings of the DQAs, capacity-building plans, including mentoring and workshops, were developed to assist in addressing the areas of weakness. In an effort to strengthen implementing partners’ information systems, MEASURE Evaluation developed the Community Trace and Verify Tool, which provides partners with information on whether or not services reported in the registers are actually reaching the recipients using the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling methodology. The project is also in the process of piloting a participatory M&E approach with OVC programs in an effort to create more ownership of data at the community level. Read more about Lot Quality Assurance Sampling in Tanzania. 

MEASURE Evaluation has been working with the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) to strengthen the national Most Vulnerable Children (MVC) M&E systems. MEASURE Evaluation helped form and is currently the secretariat of the MVC M&E technical working group and served on the task force that developed the latest National Costed Plan of Action for MVC of Tanzania Mainland. MEASURE Evaluation has developed a corresponding National MVC M&E Plan and continues to work with the Department of Social Welfare to assess the current MVC data management system and to develop suggestions for improvement. In addition to working with Tanzania Mainland, MEASURE Evaluation has worked with Tanzania Zanzibar to develop its own National Costed Plan of Action for MVC and supporting M&E plan.

MEASURE Evaluation, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, conducted case studies to understand and document how community-based information systems are designed, implemented, and used by program staff and government counterparts. One of the case studies was conducted in Tanzania.

Registering Vital Events in Tanzania

Accurate and timely information about fertility, perinatal events, mortality, and causes of death is key to developing evidence-based and results-oriented health programs and systems. Many developing countries lack the appropriate registrars with these types of vital events. Tanzania’s government has been working to bolster the country’s vital events information by creating a full community-based Sample Vital Registration with Verbal Autopsy (SAVVY) system. MEASURE Evaluation has supported this effort by working with Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to provide technical assistance and training in the implementation of SAVVY as well as the analysis and interpretation of SAVVY data.