As part of a Bangladeshi government initiative to address a decline in the use of clinical contraception in the country, partly due to the inadequacy of service quality, AVSC implemented a project from July 1995 to March 1997 in 5 counties of Sylhet and Jhenaidah districts. The project's goal was to improve the quality of family planning services and the variety of contraceptive methods available by strengthening family planning program planning at the local level, supervision, training, and referral services. First, meetings were held with key health and family planning officials at all levels to make them aware of local planning issues. AVSC then engaged more than 200 providers, supervisors, and support staff at all levels in COPE, AVSC's self-assessment technique to identify and solve problems in service delivery settings. The identification of factors adversely affecting service quality led to the development and implementation of action plans by local staff, with monthly reviews of implementation strategies. Training courses were attended by 183 service providers, while supervisors learned new approaches in workshops to help providers improve service quality. Participating providers indicated that they were becoming more aware of and responsive to clients' needs and rights. During the project period, more clients began using clinical contraceptive services than ever before. Client exit interviews found a high level of satisfaction with services received. The project's success has caused its interagency evaluation team to recommend a 3-year extension.

作者：K, Landovitz

来源：AVSC news (Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception (U.S.)) 1997 年 35卷 4期