Through the Boresha Afya project, launched in October 2016, USAID supports the government of Tanzania to strengthen integrated health services, particularly for women and youth. The Developmental Evaluation (DE)'s period of performance is October 2017 to September 2021, with the majority of DE activities occurring after a February 2018 kick-off workshop.

What is Developmental Evaluation?

Developmental evaluation (DE) is an approach that supports continuous adaptation in complex environments, and differs from typical evaluations in a few ways: (1) DEs have a Developmental Evaluator embedded alongside the implementation team; (2) DEs emphasize iterative, real-time data collection and regular reflection to support adaptation; (3) DEs are methodologically agnostic and adjust analytical techniques and evaluation questions as the project changes. For more information on DEs, consider reading Developmental Evaluation from Better Evaluation.

Why DE?

Boresha Afya’s complexity makes it a suitable project for DE: it has an undefined theory of change, and its outcomes are difficult to predict and measure because of the dynamic nature of its partners and programming. Through the DE process, USAID is able to generate real-time evidence, support adaptive management practices, and catalyze rapid learning and decision-making to improve the quality, efficiency, utilization, and scalability of integrated health services in Tanzania.