MEASURE Evaluation in Tanzania

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MEASURE Evaluation’s activities in Tanzania are varied and have expanded in scope over the past few years. Resident Advisor Dawne Walker coordinates the work of four Tanzanian monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialists – Camilius Kapela, Zaddy Kibao, Yohana Mapala and Prudence Masako – and two administrative staff. Originally, activities 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. Now, MEASURE Evaluation also supports strategic planning for the Department of Social Welfare as well as U.S. government-supported HIV prevention efforts. MEASURE Evaluation consortium partners JSI, Futures Group, and UNC provide 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 structured 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 contracted with the Tanzanian firm JL Consultancy to carry out the DQAs in addition to building M&E capacity within each individual implementing partner.  

HIV/AIDS 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 has 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 is implementing an activity that will first map out all U.S. government partners (CDC and USAID) along with other donor and local government sites that provide prevention, care and treatment and OVC activities throughout the region. It will then implement MEASURE Evaluation’s PLACE methodology to identify and map at-risk populations in the region.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children

MEASURE Evaluation has supported OVC programs in Tanzania for the past three years. Initially, the Tanzanian program specifically worked with 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 Lot Quality Assurance 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.

MEASURE Evaluation is 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. MEASURE Evaluation is part of the task force developing the new National Costed Plan of Action for MVC, and will develop the M&E plan for the National Costed Plan of Action with stakeholders. MEASURE Evaluation is working with DSW on assessing the current MVC data management system and developing suggestions for improvement.