Planning and managing contraceptive phaseout : applying lessons learned

This review summarizes the principal lessons learned from USAID phaseout operations over the past 15 years in a limited set of countries. The lessons fall into two basic groups: caveats and principles. Three caveats underline the principal reasons why phaseouts may fail to meet USAID"s objectives; these should be considered and reviewed at every stage of a phaseout strategy: (1) the time and resources required can be underestimated; (2) key areas of assistance are often understated or overlooked; and (3) commitments to action, however formal, may lose the priority and USAID support they require for successful completion. Six principles are specific to individual elements of a successful phaseout strategy. (1) Most importantly, a country situation analysis is needed to validate the feasibility of each phaseout and to identify the priority areas of assistance that are needed for a successful phaseout. (2) The next task is to secure a clear and comprehensive agreement with the host country stakeholders concerning the actions that need to be taken, the timeframe, and the persons responsible for each action. (3) Insofar as such an agreement may assume an expanded role for other donors, their concurrence and involvement may be needed. (4-5) Two related areas are critical for a successful phaseout: determining how to decrease program costs while maintaining quality services; and providing a broad range of logistics assistance to ensure the maintenance of a quality service program. (6) Finally, to make it possible to judge the relative success of any phaseout at some point after its completion, the phaseout plan should clearly document the phaseout process and identify the continuing USAID and host country resources needed to make a post-phaseout review possible.