Asociacion Hondurena de Planificacion Familiar (ASHONPLAFA)

PES covers the period 9/80-9/81 and is based on document review. Project progress has been minimal. Although the number of contraceptive distribution posts has increased from 437 to 706 (with the greatest increase in urban areas), the number of contraceptive users per post has declined from 62 to 38 and many previous users have been lost; overall, contraceptive users have declined by 105. The project has been hampered in retaining users by: the delayed procurement of vehicles and lack of funds for staff public transportation which prevented supervision and resupply of many distribution posts and led to the closure of some rural posts; ineffective program promotion due to personnel, logistical, and administrative difficulties, including inadequate monitoring and regional coordination of promoters; an inefficient and time-consuming distributors" recordkeeping system (the tickler file) which has interfered with promoters" follow-up of users and resulted in tardy quarterly reports of user and supply data; distributors" lack of knowledge regarding contraceptive side effects; and lack of audiovisual equipment and supplies. Lessons learned are: attention should be paid to promotion strategies early in project implementation; recordkeeping systems should be simple, practical, and operational; local distributors should play a more active role in implementation; promoting family planning methods among new users should not imply disregard for previous users; evaluations should assess user family planning knowledge and commitment to continued contraceptive use; and educational efforts should include husbands as well as wives. Action decisions are to: abandon use of the tickler file system; modify supply data collection procedures to avoid contraceptive shortages at the posts; improve program promotion at the local level; provide distributors with precise instructions on the use of all methods; and train distributors in handling contraceptive side effects.