Mayer Hashi Family Planning Project in Bangladesh (MH-II) Quarterly Report

MH-II aims to advance the use of reproductive health (RH) and FP services with a focus on informed and voluntary use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and permanent methods (PMs). The project provides in-country capacity development to strengthen RH service delivery by supporting Bangladesh's National FP and Maternal Health initiatives. During the reporting period of quarter four (Q4) of project year three (PY3), which is for the period July 1– September 30, 2016, the MH-II project achieved the majority of its performance benchmarks. By the end of Q4, MH-II achieved 85% of the quarterly benchmark for indicator one (couple years of protection/CYP), which is 80% of the annual CYP benchmark and 64% of the overall project benchmark for this indicator. Performance against the project's remaining 13 indicators can be found in Appendix 1. The Service Delivery and Training Team (IR1) of MH-II continued implementation of activities as per the Workplan, including an accelerated action plan. During Q4, four meetings were held with Research, Training, and Management International (RTMI) to initiate additional activities to increase performance and strengthen support to mobile service delivery care teams (MSDCTs). Two meetings were held to finalize the planning of the no-cost extension of the project for 5 months (till March 2017) and to develop a comprehensive plan to increase LARC and PM performance during the last 6 months (October 2016 – March 2017) of the project. Six joint field visits were conducted with RTMI management staff to monitor the quality of MSDCT field-level activities and to support RTMI management staff to conduct monitoring visits. An all-MSDCT staff meeting was held on August 14, 2016, to develop a six-month comprehensive plan with a focus on client mobilization and to discuss how to overcome challenges faced during the previous quarter. Challenges included accessing high-performing districts for LARC and PM due to the allocation of low-performing hard-to-reach areas by the Directorate General of Family Planning (DGFP) and requests from Family Welfare Assistants (FWAs) and Upazilla Family Planning Officers (UFPOs) for transportation money and remuneration for organizing special days, which is not permitted under USAID rules and regulations. RTMI organized orientation sessions on August 27 and 28, 2016, to discuss the comprehensive plan and provide training on client mobilization and overcoming challenges. The sessions aimed to increase the performance of MSDCTs and ensure the effective organization of FP special days.