ICRHK in collaboration with Aga Khan University (AKU) and Hera consultants, was engaged by FCDO/UKAID to conduct Third Party Monitoring (TPM) and process evaluation for the Delivering Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Family Planning (DESIP) project in 2020. The objectives include:

1. Independent quarterly TPM of DESIP activities and outputs and quality of data; looking at how these activities contribute to the overall objective of the DESIP project while at the same time ensuring data quality, and verifying project indicators.
2. Annual process evaluation; evaluating the project implementation to generate new evidence; using the 5 components of evaluation criteria i.e. relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency and sustainability.
3. Learning; facilitate learning and sharing of evidence through documenting case studies and organizing webinars to discuss findings.

The project was initially implemented in 19 counties in 2020 and 2021 and scaled down to 12 counties in 2022. It’s running for 5 years up to January 2024. It is currently in year 5 and as such has been focusing on implementing high-impact and sustainable interventions that can continue even after the project’s life.

Key achievements:

• A total of 16 counties and 446 health facilities have been visited and data quality audits conducted for FP services, commodities and DMPA spot checks. This aims to help stakeholders including the FCDO, implementing partners and counties have accurate information for decision-making as well as to verify the data reported to the donor
• Collected insights about family planning through talking to various stakeholders including key informants from the national and county governments, development partners, other relevant partners and community members including men and religious leaders and the beneficiaries of FP
• Conducted three rounds of process evaluation and provided the donor with timely and relevant feedback on the delivery and quality of DESIP outputs and outcome achievements.
• Documented a case study on the role of men in family planning and conducted a webinar to engage stakeholders on the findings