REDSO/WCA project assistance completion report for Sahel population initiatives project (625-0969)

The project produced significant outcomes in the areas of demographic research and analysis, program planning, and FP service delivery. In the area of demographic analysis, the project produced three technical reports analyzing data from a 1981 fertility survey and published research conducted by Mauritania's Center for Demographic and Social Studies (CEDS). It helped the CEDS to analyze demographic data collected by ministries and public and private agencies throughout Mauritania, and along with two experts from the Future Group, developed a RAPID computer model for Mauritania of the impact of population growth on development; the model was presented to statisticians and policymakers in a week-long seminar on population and development. Training included: (1) short-term, third-country training of six nurses, nurse-midwives, and health administrators in clinical aspects of FP, program management, and education and communication; (2) attendance by two Ministry of Health officers at courses in Lome on communication and FP; (3) training at The Hague for two CEDS demographers; (4) attendance by the Ministry of Economy and Finance's Director of Statistics and by a CEDS demographer at a conference on the dissemination and use of census data; (5) U.S. training in FP administration for one person; and (6) observational tours by four government, educational, and religious leaders to FP programs in Morocco and Tunisia and by one official to the Sahel region and Mali. FP/health service delivery was improved through construction of the Family Health Referral Center in Nouakchott, including the provision of ob/gyn equipment and office supplies. The work was completed despite ethnic unrest in April 1989. The center has provided FP and sexually transmitted disease services, and trained nurses and midwives. Other achievements included an assessment of population policy and FP services and a study of laws related to population and the family. A mid-term evaluation in 1988 revealed that communication barriers between the CEDS and OAR/Nouakchott caused a 6-12 month delay in project implementation. This was attributed to the fact that the Health Officer who had initiated the project was transferred, and not replaced for 4 months. The evaluation's recommendation that a contractor be hired to monitor the project in the Officer's absence was not accepted, and instead an OAR/Nouakchott official filled in, and instituted a new management system. In the absence of a final evaluation, it is impossible to measure the effects of the system, although project outputs seem to speak for themselves.