Evaluation report : USAID/India Vriddhi : scaling up interventions in RMNCH+A mid-term performance evaluation

to conduct a mid-term performance evaluation of Vriddhi: Scaling Up Interventions in Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A). The Vriddhi project provided technical and managerial assistance to the state and national governments of India focusing on improving quality of RMNCH+A services within healthcare facilities. This evaluation examined the project’s performance and effectiveness and provide insights and lessons learned to inform USAID/India’s future RMNCH+A programming. The evaluation collected data through an exhaustive document review, analysis of secondary quantitative data, and 88 key informant interviews with 114 total respondents. Among the many project components, the project dedicated the largest share of its time and resources to improving the quality of care during the intra-partum and immediate post-partum period. The “Care around Birth” approach was designed to reduce preventable maternal and infant mortality and effectively built the capacity of health providers to deliver high-impact obstetric and newborn interventions. However, the project faced numerous challenges, including perennial deficiencies in human resources and infrastructure, which limited its overall impact. The project’s supply-side mandate and its primary focus on maternal health also limited its scope and resulted in missed opportunities for demand generation and an inability to address issues of access to healthcare services. This evaluation report also provides recommendations to USAID and implementing partners for the remainder of the project and future work in the RMNCH+A sector.