USAID/DRC : mid-term performance evaluation for the advancing social marketing for health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, award GHH-I-05-07-00062-00

Using qualitative evaluation methodologies, including conducting over 30 focus groups in four provinces, in-depth interviews and data review, the evaluation team found that the contractor PSI/ASF has run a successful project. It will achieve all but three of the goals set in 2009. Among the conclusions that the evaltors came to are the following: (1) PSI/ASF successfully integrates its development Theory of Change into the implementation of its project and this allows it to better track impact from their interventions; (2) PSI/ASF is doing a good job and will meet all but three of the project objectives but they could be doing a more dynamic marketing job given their comparative advantage of market knowledge and experience; (3) because they have been a market leader for so long, PSI/ASF has stagnated a little in their creativity and approach to marketing and has not exploited trends in technology for information sharing; and (4) PSI/ASF is distributing a good gamut of products that respond to identified health needs, if they add PPIUD and emergency contraceptive, they will have a very comprehensive product range. The recommendations outlined in the evaluation, given that the evaluation slipped by a year, that PSI/ASF will have only nine months of program implementation post-evaluation and that they have had their funding cut by USAID, will be difficult for PSI/ASF to achieve an extensive "mid-course correction" but there are still some improvement that can be made during this remaining time of the contract. (Excerpt, modified)