MEASURE Evaluation in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean

“When we talk about technical assistance and collaboration in the Eastern Caribbean countries, we are talking about assistance on a very small scale, and in some cases to a single individual,” said Stephanie Watson-Grant. According to Watson-Grant, a Country Portfolio Manager at MEASURE Evaluation, “Where that is the case, the challenge is to broaden an individual’s M&E horizon, to shift from an exclusive focus on HIV to engage with an M&E system covering the entire health sector. In some countries in the past, the experience has been that when an individual leaves their post, key parts of the M&E system often leave with them.” 

A vital element of broadening and strengthening a country’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system is identifying its weaknesses and applying strategies for improvement. In August 2010, MEASURE Evaluation teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Caribbean Office, the Caribbean Health Council, and the OECS for an HIV M&E assessment of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. M&E assessments of St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica were conducted earlier as part of the OECS Global Fund grant.

U.S. Government agencies, primarily USAID, CDC and regional partners, used the UNAIDS 12 Component M&E Assessment Tool to appraise these M&E systems.

“The U.S. government in Barbados has divided up the responsibility for implementing recommendations from the 12 component assessment in the countries where these assessments were done,” Watson-Grant explained. “USAID has taken responsibility for three of the components, and MEASURE Evaluation is their implementing partner for this activity.” In the past few years, Ministries of Health in Eastern Caribbean have agreed to absorb what had previously been stand-alone HIV M&E functions. This means that the HIV M&E functions will need to merge with general health M&E functions.

After the HIV M&E assessments, U.S. government technical assistance through MEASURE Evaluation will focus on helping Eastern Caribbean countries transition from these stand-alone HIV M&E systems to integrated health M&E systems.

The assessments and transitioning process have underscored the importance of expanding and institutionalizing M&E systems in Eastern Caribbean countries. “It’s all about institutionalizing and broadening into an overall M&E system,” said Watson-Grant. “Even where the work is led by just one person, there should be a system and network around that one person.”