Introduction

Contraceptive Requirements and Logistics Management Needs

Training

Coordination and Collaboration

Monitoring and Evaluation

JOICFP-Executed Projects

Centres of Excellence for South to South Cooperation

Safe Motherhood Projects

HIV/AIDS Prevention Interventions

Implementing the Reproductive Health Approach

UNDAF Assessment

A mid-term evaluation was conducted in 1998 to assess the programme and administration of the Centre of Excellence for South to South Cooperation in Tunisia. Recommendations were then made for the second half of the execution period.

The evaluation found that training modules are well developed, with clearly defined goals and objectives, and trainees are well grounded in both theory and practice. Participants from African countries find the course on gender, population and development to be very useful. Also worthwhile are the visits to rural Tunisian clinics, especially since the selected sites have similarities with many parts of rural Africa. Some participants, however, indicated that the political and administrative environments in their countries are not favourable to reproductive health/family planning programmes; they therefore foresee difficulties in readily transferring technology and organizational aspects essential to programme execution.

The evaluation's report made a number of recommendations regarding the training programme. For example, it suggested that the number of courses that are academically as opposed to operationally oriented be reduced. Moreover, adolescent reproductive health should be addressed more comprehensively in the relevant modules, including those dealing with the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. The report also recommended closer collaboration with NGOs, particularly in addressing issues relating to adolescent sexual and reproductive health. More courses that are relevant to Arab participants should be offered, the evaluation found, and more assistance should be provided to participants from sub-Saharan Africa whose mother tongue is neither Arabic nor French. And finally, a communication channel should be developed, initially through the Internet, so that the various Centres of Excellence can share expertise and experiences.

A mid-term evaluation of the project in support of the Centre of Excellence for South to South Cooperation in Mexico was also undertaken. In general, the evaluation's findings were positive. It found a commitment to sustaining the Centre's programme and to sharing knowledge and skills with other countries in the region regarding integrated reproductive health programmes. Most of the collaborating institutions were found to have hands-on experience and served as good models for programme participants from the Latin America and Caribbean region, particularly in regard to collaboration between governmental and non-governmental organizations. There was evidence of a continuing effort to intensify institutional links between sending countries and the Centre, and increased attention is being devoted to tailoring the training programmes to the expressed needs of the sending institutions and individual participants. The findings and recommendations of these various evaluations are under review. They will be taken into account in the preparation of the next four-year intercountry programme, which will be submitted to the Executive Board for approval.