Study of management information systems of AID-funded private voluntary organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

The seven PVO"s were found to be in various stages of MIS development. Agricultural Cooperative Development International (ACDI), which has a fairly focused program but lacks an adequate MIS, is in process of thoroughly revamping and improving its MIS. America Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) and American Middle East Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST) face complex difficulties in gathering the planning and evaluation data they need. After initial problems, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is completing its MIS for its new village health project. Save the Children, the YMCA, and the Society for the Care of the Handicapped all have adequate data collection systems, a fact which is largely due to the focused, coherent nature of their projects. Where there is already an MIS or the possibility of one, common elements among PVO"s include the existence of a sound objectives tree, baseline data, indicators, and targets. Any attempt to establish compatibility and internal consistency beyond these elements would be impractical at this stage. Overall, there is increased awareness among PVO"s concerning the need to improve their MIS"s for their own purposes. However, PVO"s are wary of being saddled with too much reporting to USAID on data they themselves do not find useful for planning and evaluation. Even where PVO"s have good systems and knowledge of MIS, they are not necessarily conversant with USAID terminology and have difficulty constructing logframes. (Author abstract, modified)