Value of the Full Country Evaluations

It is critical to show that past and continuing investments in health are making an impact and that resources devoted to health programs are effective. Past evaluation studies of support from Gavi are primarily retrospective, focused on specific streams of funding, and have limited country ownership of evaluation results. This evaluation effort represents an important shift toward focused, forward-looking, and in-depth monitoring and evaluation activities that take into account the evaluation needs of country-level immunization programs. This will better inform policy implementation and strengthen local capacity to conduct monitoring and evaluation activities.

Three important principles underlie the Gavi Full Country Evaluations (FCE):

  1. Harmonize monitoring and evaluation activities in each country by leveraging all available data and work collaboratively with country partners to conduct primary data collection.
  2. Strengthen country ownership and capacity by partnering with in-country institutes and undertaking shared dissemination.
  3. Provide timely, regular, and systematic feedback to country institutes and Gavi.

The overall goal of the Gavi FCE is to understand and quantify the barriers to and drivers of immunization program improvement, including the contribution of the Vaccine Alliance. The scope of the Gavi FCE includes Gavi’s support for new and underused vaccines, as well as Gavi’s cash-based support to countries. These four-year prospective evaluations are undertaken in Bangladesh, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia from 2013 to 2016.

Partners

The Gavi FCE team harnesses the expertise of numerous distinguished organizations. The evaluation work in each of the four countries is led by the respective in-country institutions:

  • University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Mozambique;
  • Health Alliance International (HAI), Mozambique;
  • Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM), Mozambique;
  • icddr,b, Bangladesh;
  • Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC), Uganda;
  • University of Zambia (UNZA), Zambia; and
  • PATH, US.