Mid-term evaluation of the USAID DELIVER project

(JSI)/DELIVER Project started its operation in Pakistan in August 2009 with USAID support to provide inputs on the Logistics Management Information System (LMIS), warehouse rehabilitation, commodity security, procurement capacity and other support activities related to contraceptive commodities. The JSI/DELIVER Project works nationally, in all districts of Pakistan, and targets those involved in the contraceptive commodity supply chain. The purpose of JSI/DELIVER is to: (1) improve central warehouse and supply chain operations; (2) improve the procurement capacity of the Government of Pakistan (GOP); (3) improve and increase the supply of contraceptives (through procurement); and (4) establish the LMIS. The project's interventions focus on two key dimensions: (1) improving the performance of the health system by redressing weak supply management systems; and (2) improving the availability of contraceptives in the public sector by working in partnership with the Ministry of Population Welfare (MOPW) and Ministry of Health (MOH) to achieve contraceptive security through a series of interventions in the above mentioned key focus areas. The goal of the mid-term evaluation is to determine the extent to which the program has been successful in building the GOP's capacity (at both the federal and provincial levels) to manage the supply chain of contraceptives effectively and efficiently. The evaluation focused on five specific questions including: (1) to what extent is JSI/DELIVER achieving its objective to institute best practices (human resource management, infrastructure, operationalization and automation) in the central warehouse; (2) to what extent is JSI/DELIVER achieving its objectives to improve procurement capacity; (3) have procurement activities been automated, and is the government using the web-based LMIS procurement manual and linking it to procurement planning and forecasting; (4) to what extent has JSI/DELIVER been effective in building the capacity of federal and provincial governments to manage the contraceptive supply chain using modern technology (LMIS) in the central, provincial and eight sample pilot districts to ensure a continuous supply of contraceptive commodities [and] what factors affect the relative performance of the LMIS across districts; and (5) how widespread and frequent are stock-outs at the central warehouse and district-level stores and what is their cause and when they occur? As the project does not have a baseline or a set of benchmarks against which to measure its achievements, the findings for the five evaluation questions measure current project achievements against its ultimate objectives. Specific evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations are provided with detailed analysis for each evaluation question. (Excerpt, modified)