USAID’s Bureau for Africa implemented Ebola Pillar II programming to confront the cross-sectoral challenges of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Congress designated Pillar II funding to mitigate secondary consequences of the epidemic, including economic, social and political consequences in the region, engaging and coordinating with a broader global audience, and fortifying health security infrastructure in the region. USAID’s Africa Bureau awarded IBTCI the three-year contract which included macro-level evaluations, routine monitoring (RM), supporting routine data collection and analysis of macro-level performance progress, and assuring data quality in project analyses. IBTCI teams traveled to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to support piloting and launch of qualitative data collection in coordination with in-country Field Coordinators and subcontractors. In addition, IBTCI assisted in tracing the appropriation and application of Pillar II funding.
IBTCI’s evaluation covered 13 priority préfectures in Guinea, 8 priority counties in Liberia, and 8 priority districts in Sierra Leone. In addition to qualitative methods, large-scale household surveys and health facility surveys were conducted in each country. A total of 11,721 household surveys and 529 health facility surveys were conducted between the three countries, as well as 370 key informant interviews (KIIs), 215 focus group discussions (FGDs) and a desk review of roughly 800 documents. To build local capacity of local mission and development staff, IBTCI also held multiple learning events and workshops, including training needs assessments for USAID Missions in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, classroom-style training on USAID policies and procedures, and M&E principles.