Measuring Performance. Informing Policy. Empowering Communities.
The Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) project is fueling a data revolution to guide family planning programs. Data are key to informing and driving policy and program changes around the world. High quality data — collected frequently, turned - around quickly, and locally owned — help decision makers understand what is working, and what is not, enabling decisions that are more sensitive and responsive to evolving needs.
PMA surveys collect actionable data on a variety of family planning topics that inform policies at national and sub-national levels. The project implements longitudinal surveys and a new cross - sectional panel design to fill a data gap — collecting information from the same women and households over time for regular tracking of progress and for understanding the drivers of contraceptive use dynamics – an approach that is not currently used by other large - scale surveys. While having a core family planning focus, the data collection platform can be used for data collection that informs other health strategies. To date the platform has been used to collect data for guiding programs in abortion, COVID-19, maternal and child health, nutrition, water and sanitation, neglected tropical diseases, women's and girls' empowerment, schistosomiasis, and primary health care.
Overall direction and support of PMA is provided by the William H. Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Jhpiego, in collaboration with national partners in each project country. PMA is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.