Capacity Building
Adolescent Reproductive Health Services
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GDS president, Abul Hashem, provided technical assistance to a USAID funded adolescent reproductive health project in Bangladesh. The project was designed to provide sexual and reproductive health education to adolescent boys and girls aged 10-19 and improve their access to health facilities through improved capacity of service providers and facilities, and referrals for adolescents to clinics.
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GDS technical assistance included identification and addressing strategic, design, and operational issues that impeded the project’s performance. GDS helped establish a common understanding among all stakeholders of project objectives; modified the organizational structure; instituted part-ner management to improve effectiveness and efficiency; and introduced a work planning and budgeting system to enable close performance monitoring. GDS also initiated a process to digitize the monitoring and evaluation system, revised job descriptions of several staff to improve their utilization and improved team synergy. GDS inputs improved the project’s resource utilization and achievement of results and, conse-quently, the project’s image with USAID, partners, and stakeholders.
Donor Landscape Analysis
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Global Development Support conducted a funding landscape analysis for Africa, on behalf of a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. This included an analysis of the current aid environment and donor landscape including the priorities, programmatic focus, geographical presence and funding priorities and distribution of donors (both traditional and non-traditional) and partners working across the region; identification of new aid/resource modalities and partnerships; and an analysis of global health initiatives on the continent dealing with the quality of medicines.
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A four-member GDS team conducted an analysis of sixteen multinational donors, nine bilateral donors, six global health initiatives, 25 foundations, 29 pharmaceutical companies, four multinational companies, and three inter-governmental regional organizations. The primary source of information was the internet, industry contacts in different countries, and in some cases the team was able to draw on personal experience with a donor to fill out the narrative. Telephone calls were made to large donors.
It was found that past patterns of donor support were an imperfect guide to forecasting future priorities and funding levels. This was particularly true for the smaller donors or those that try to be responsive. Most donors have spent their health dollars on maternal, neonatal and child health and infectious diseases. Few donors have made a significant commitment to health system strengthening, and even fewer to ensuring the quality of drugs and the supply chain. While every donor cautions against the perils of substandard medicines, few follow up with tangible support.
Market Analysis
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GDS conducted market analyses for two US firms to identify business opportunities in Asia. The work involved analyses of donor priorities and funding levels as well as country governments’ development strategies. Information was collected from secondary sources and from meetings with donors and governments. The analyses included assessments of the competition, their strengths and weaknesses and current portfolios. GDS also estimated the costs of operating offices and running business in select countries.
Workshop to Prepare Response to Solicitations
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A workshop was conducted in Kabul, Afghanistan for international and local organizations to assist their preparation of a proposal to USAID on Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Nutrition.
Training in Proposal Writing
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A workshop for 50 NGO representatives in Myanmar was held to improve localized planning and prepare proposals for donor funding. This highly successful workshop enabled several NGOs to access donor funds.
