Tanzania’s Most Vulnerable Children Management Information System Assessment Report

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to achieve and maintain HIV/AIDS epidemic control for the most at-risk and hard-to-reach pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants, children, and adolescents in PEPFAR-supported countries. ACHIEVE will use evidence-based strategies to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS and prevent HIV infection among priority at-risk sub-populations. The project is led by Pact, and its core consortia partners are Jhpiego, Palladium, No Means No Worldwide, and WI-HER (Women Influencing Health, Education, and Rule of Law). ACHIEVE will collaborate with local USAID Missions to identify and engage with highly capable local partners to lead ACHIEVE implementation, including technical assistance and service delivery support, ensuring that strategies are optimized for the local context, and that local leadership is built in from the beginning and sustained. The Tanzania Most Vulnerable Children Management Information System (MIS) Assessment Report was conducted through a consultative and collaborative approach that engaged multiple stakeholders who provided input during meetings and interviews. The report was prepared by Rasheed Maftah, PORALG, and Ponsiano Mawazo, MOHCDGEC, with support from Sadick Masomhe and Beatus Kibiti of ACHIEVE Project, Palladium. The report highlights the challenges faced by the national MVC-MIS, including poor data availability, timeliness, and data quality; issues with system architecture; the existence of parallel reporting systems; and a desire for more granular data. These implementation issues and misalignment of the system architecture impact the ability to use the MVC-MIS for planning and decision making. The MVC-MIS was built on the District Health Information System (version 2) (DHIS2) platform, allowing the collection of aggregate-level data on services offered to MVC in all councils in Tanzania. Despite progress in implementing the MVC-MIS, there are several challenges that need to be addressed. The ACHIEVE project conducted a rapid needs assessment to further investigate the known challenges and formulate recommendations for improvements. The MVC-MIS rapid needs assessment was conducted to understand the challenges faced by the national MVC-MIS and to formulate recommendations for improvements. The assessment involved a desk review of documentation, stakeholder engagement, rapid needs assessment, capacity assessment, and technical review of the MVC-MIS. The findings of the assessment highlighted several challenges, including poor data availability, timeliness, and data quality; issues with system architecture; the existence of parallel reporting systems; and a desire for more granular data. The report provides several recommendations for improving the MVC-MIS, including reviving the MVC M&E TWG, updating the MVC M&E plan and indicators, migrating legacy data from the Kizazi Kipya System, enhancing the MVC-MIS dashboard, strengthening data review methods, and providing sustained support for the subcommittee on MIS Governance. These recommendations aim to address the challenges faced by the MVC-MIS and improve its functionality and usability.