Institutional assessment of USAID support to the Indonesia national family planning program : 1980-1984

Special evaluation, focusing on the project's institutional aspects, covers the period 1980-84 and is based on field visits and interviews with key personnel. The project has successfully institutionalized within the BKKBN the critical management processes of contraceptive supply, logistics, information systems, and manpower development program management, but the BKKBN's rapid growth and expanded local activities endanger its organizational attributes of flexibility, innovation, and action-based goal orientation. BKKBN delivers FP services efficiently - its production, procurement, and distribution activities have provided a wide variety of contraceptive options. Its good working relationships with local government have helped legitimize FP, spreading information and influence to the level of individual acceptor couples, a rapport which becomes more important as the number of acceptors increases and non-acceptors become harder to reach. Delegation of authority to provincial and, to some degree, lower levels is effective within the constraints of GOI planning and budget systems. However, while the current village FP model provides a successful framework for program extension to the more developed outer islands, it is less cost-effective in remote, thinly-populated areas. Also, the BKKBN has not yet clearly defined an urban FP strategy. The future will require broader ability to address the challenges of social marketing in areas that are not receptive to traditional service delivery. In spite of a somewhat flawed output, BKKBN's monthly service statistics provide a reliable base for performance measurement, but are not fully utilized, especially at lower levels. Finally, manpower development programs have had a major impact on BKKBN staff and field implementation, although the skills of some returning participants are not effectively used. Among the recommendations presented for future implementation is to increase the availability of permanent contraceptive methods (e.g., voluntary sterilization).