Generating Information on the Achievements of MCHIP and its Collaborators
MCHIP measures its Program results to provide accountability to donors and Ministries of Health and to inform its Program operations. Each MCHIP country or regional program with at least $500,000 of annual funding has developed a performance monitoring plan (PMP) tailored to that program’s needs and approved by the local USAID Mission or Regional Office. PMPs are included in countries’ workplans and provide a road map for how the programs will measure and report its results.

As MCHIP country programs develop their own PMPs, they are expected to abide by the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) principles presented in this brief and ensure that their objectives, planned results, and core indicators are aligned with the local USAID Mission’s Strategic Plan, Ministry of Health priorities and systems, and MCHIP global objectives and expected results. Indicators in common with the MCHIP global M&E framework are aggregated and reported to USAID Washington on an annual basis. Countries also report on the indicators in their PMP to their local USAID Mission on an annual basis.

Information produced through MCHIP country M&E systems is intended to meet the multiple needs and objectives of MCHIP to generate high-quality data to inform programmatic decision-making and report progress to stakeholders, build capacity of in-country partners, and contribute to the MNCH evidence base.

Strengthening Health Information Systems
At the country level, MCHIP M&E systems rely on existing health information systems to the extent possible rather than introducing new parallel information systems. An important M&E data source for many MCHIP country programs is the Ministry of Health’s national health management information system (HMIS). MCHIP strives to strengthen elements of the HMIS in the countries where the Program is working to improve the quality of MNCH care in facilities and/or communities and/or where the Program is contributing health systems strengthening efforts. Ways in which MCHIP has worked to improve national HMIS include:

• Working with stakeholders to incorporate evidence-based MNCH indicators (such as new global benchmark maternal health indicators) into client records (such as antenatal care cards, maternity charts), facility registers/logbooks (family planning registers, antenatal care registers, maternity registers, postnatal registers) and registers used by community health workers (such as Malawi Health Surveillance Assistants and Community Counselors in Bangladesh);
• Training health workers in how to use existing and new recordkeeping forms;
• Training health workers in how to aggregate and display health service statistic data;
• Revising district health management team supervision forms and training supervisors how to use the forms and data for decision-making; and
• Advocating at the national, regional and district/state levels for revision of HMIS forms.

Building the Capacity of MCHIP Staff and Collaborators in MER
An important aspect of MCHIP’s M&E approach is to help build the capacity of its own M&E and program staff and collaborators in country to conduct monitoring, evaluation and research (MER) activities. For example, as part of its efforts to strengthen HMIS, MCHIP builds the capacity of health facility staff and supervisors to accurately record data, aggregate and display data, and use data for decision making. When implementing special studies and evaluations, such as the quality of care for prevention and management of common maternal and newborn complications studies, MCHIP works with Ministry of Health counterparts, clinical trainers, local research agency staff, Child Survival and Health Grants Program grantees and/or others in country with an eye to improving MER knowledge and skills.