Abstract: 2008 Baseline Rural Bangladesh Smiling Sun Franchise Program (BSSFP) Evaluation Survey
2008 Baseline Rural Bangladesh Smiling Sun Franchise Program (BSSFP) Evaluation Survey
The 2008 Baseline Rural Bangladesh Smiling Sun Franchise Program (BSSFP) Evaluation
Survey is the first installment in a series of two surveys intended to assess the efficacy of the rural
component of the BSSFP program in terms of its ability to deliver an essential services package
(ESP) of family planning and maternal and child health services to under-served populations
across Bangladesh. The baseline survey is designed to provide a picture of circumstances at the
population level in BSSFP catchment areas and similar, nearby non-project areas where the BSSFP
is not operating but the government is. Useful in its own right as a source of information as critical
programmatic decisions are made in the early phase of the BSSFP project, the baseline survey
also provides information regarding circumstances on the eve of conversion from the operational
model of the National Service Delivery Program (NSDP, which the BSSFP succeeds) to that of the
BSSFP. This is critical information which, when combined with that from a follow-up wave to be
conducted three years hence, will allow for tracking performance of the program over time.
