Evaluation report : FPMD [family planning management development] assistance to the Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS)

It is necessary to look at FPMD assistance to CAFS within the context of the change through which CAFS is passing as a result of its separation from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). This period of change coincides with many uncertainties within CAFS, creating a crisis situation which has resulted in low morale among the staff. There are three dimensions to this crisis. First, there has been no decision regarding the closing of CAFS" Lome office and the integration of the Francophone office with the main office in Nairobi. Second, CAFS does not have a permanent director; the current director has had the position of Acting Director for two years. These first two dimensions are discussed in Section III. A. The third aspect of the crisis, addressed in Section III.B., is the need for CAFS to develop a new identity while working toward sustainability through marketing. The assistance of FPMD within this picture was generally considered by CAFS" staff members to be of high quality, with one notable exception: FPMD assistance to CAFS is not integrated into a coherent program designed to assist CAFS in overcoming its current crisis. CAFS staff members also expressed interest in developing a partnership with MSH and other collaborating agencies. The major lesson to be learned by MSH is that, although FPMD"s technical assistance was useful to CAFS, MSH should not commit itself to perform a series of disparate activities for an agency in need of radical transformation. There are also lessons to be learned for donors. First, sustainability should be allowed to develop gradually, in order to allow organizations to develop. Second, when an organization is passing through a crisis, donors should hand over "conductorship" of the organization to the agency providing the technical assistance. Finally, donor agencies should focus more on results, rather than process. (Author abstract)