Assessment of the Governors' Council of Women (GCOW) development and family planning project -- 1990-1993

Interim evaluation covers the period 6/90-4/93. The project has met planned outputs by establishing 11 active GCOW committees, providing training, and implementing 11 demonstration projects. The committees are meeting numerical targets with respect to clinics established, community meetings and seminars, training of district and local women leaders, and implementation of literacy classes and women's income-generation projects. The project has been very successful in motivating women leaders to become involved in population and FP. Proposal preparation and planning abilities of GCOW members have been substantially strengthened, as has their capacity to lobby for and coordinate the efforts of ministries and agencies. However, the emphasis placed by GCOW committees on establishing new clinics and classes has a number of drawbacks. Some of the services duplicate those of other agencies, often within close geographic proximity. The cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the services developed have not been appraised, and their long-term continuation presents problems. Setting up services also takes resources away from the GCOW's broader policy, planning, and advocacy roles. The project should be reoriented away from direct services toward coordination of other agencies. Overall, the GCOW project has been a success: for the first time, women leaders have been systematically organized to address problems of FP and women's services. The project has great potential to influence policies and planning related to women-in-development and population; the access of women leaders to governors has been excellent, as has their capacity to identify problems women face in acquiring services. Innovative activities to be considered include exploring ways to improve the quality of existing services, reducing FP drop-out rates, and coordinating more mobile FP outreach and services, e.g., by conducting client satisfaction surveys and reporting results to governorate decision makers and service providers. As has been pointed out many times, the number of Egyptian women residing in underserviced areas is far smaller than the number residing close to poor quality services. GCOW training, orientation, and study tours should be designed to expose committee members to broader policy, advocacy, and quality control issues and give them the skills to deal with them. Also, project TA, monitoring, and administrative roles need to be reorganized in order to provide GCOW committees with appropriate, non-duplicative technical and administrative support. Mechanisms to ensure timely transfer of funds are also urgently needed. (Author abstract, modified)