Using management information to promote performance improvement: Urban Family Health Partnership Bangladesh.

In 1997 JSI Research & Training Inc. (JSI) was contracted by USAID to build a sustainable high-quality NGO health service delivery program in Bangladesh to serve the urban poor. This five-year program the Urban Family Health Partnership (UFHP) worked to improve the quality of life of Bangladeshis as a part of USAIDs National Integrated Population and Health Program (NIPHP) which directly supports the National Health and Population Sectoral Strategy of the Government of Bangladesh. The UFHP contributed to reducing fertility and improving family health in Bangladesh by contracting with 24 NGOs to provide family health services to urban communities especially low-income vulnerable populations. At the start of the Urban Family Health Partnership project JSI recognized that a health programs sustainability depends on many factors. Some that can be controlled include the quality of the services provided the efficiency of program administration and the strength of a programs financial management. To measure monitor and boost success in all of these areas JSI introduced a management information system in which the 24 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of the UFHP were trained supported and required to participate. (excerpt)