Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The Full Country Evaluations were Gavi-funded real-time evaluations of immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia, from 2013 to 2016. The evaluations focused on providing evidence for improvement of immunisation delivery in these countries and spanned all phases of Gavi support. The process evaluation approach of the evaluations utilised mixed methods to track progress against defined theories-of-change and related milestones during the various stages of implementation of the Gavi support streams. This article highlights complexities of this type of real-time evaluation and shares lessons learnt on conducting such evaluation from the Zambian experience. Real-time process evaluation is a complex evaluation methodology that requires sensitivity to the context of the evaluation, catering for various information needs of stakeholders, and establishment of mutually beneficial relationships between programme implementers and evaluators. When used appropriately, it can be an effective means of informing programme decisions and aiding programme improvement for both donors and local implementers.

Keywords

full country evaluation Gavi immunisation process evaluation real-time evaluation vaccines

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anderson

(2005) The Community Builder’s Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide for Theory Development. New York: The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change.

Camfield

Palmer Jones

Duvendack

(2014) Things you wanted to know about bias in evaluations but never dared to think. IDS Bulletin 45: 49–64.

Care International UK (2012) Defining Theories of Change. London: Care International UK.

Coryn

CLS

Noakes

Westine

, et al. (2011) A systematic review of theory-driven evaluation practice from 1990 to 2009. American Journal of Evaluation 32(2): 199–226.

Gandhi

(2015) Charting the evolution of approaches employed by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) to address inequities in access to immunization: A systematic qualitative review of GAVI policies, strategies and resource allocation mechanisms through an equity lens (1999–2014). BMC Public Health 15: 1198.

Gavi (2015) Gavi Full Country Evaluations: 2015 Dissemination Report – Zambia. Seattle, WA: IHME.

Gavi (2016) Gavi Full Country Evaluations: 2016 Dissemination Report – Zambia. Seattle, WA: IHME.

Linnan

Steckler

(2002) Process Evaluation for Public Health Interventions and Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

McIntyre

Francis

Gould

, et al. (2018) The use of theory in process evaluations conducted alongside randomized trials of implementation interventions: A systematic review. Translational Behavioral Medicine : iby110. DOI: 10.1093/tbm/iby110.

10.

Marjanovic

Cochrane

Robin

, et al. (2017) Evaluating a complex research capacity-building intervention: Reflections on an evaluation of the African Institutions Initiative. Evaluation 23(1): 80–101.

11.

Moore

Audrey

Barker

, et al. (2015) Process evaluation of complex interventions: Medical Research Council guidance. British Medical Journal 350: h1258.

12.

Rooney

Vanden Heauvel

(2004) Root Cause Analysis For Beginners. ASQ. Available at: www.asq.org

13.

Sandison

(2003) Desk-Review of Real-Time Evaluation Experience. London: UNICEF.

14.

Saunders

Evans

Joshi

(2005) Developing a process-evaluation plan for assessing health promotion program implementation: A how-to guide. Health Promotion Practice 6(2): 134–147.

15.

White

Phillips

(2012) Addressing Attribution of Cause and Effect in Small N Impact Evaluations: Towards an Integrated Framework. New Delhi, India: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.16 MB