Insights into the implementation evaluation for a rehabilitation program for children with impairments leading to surgically treatable disabilities in a resource-limited setting

This surgical rehabilitation program in a community setting provides a case study for the implementation of an effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan. The partnership between St. Catherine University evaluators and staff at Kafika House Tanzania offers insights into how to strengthen evaluation and planning for a rehabilitation program and provides a case study for working in intercultural partnerships. This paper assesses the responsiveness, quality and fidelity of M&E implementation, and elucidates lessons learned from evaluation implementation and key adaptations from piloting data collection in a resource-limited setting. Feedback interviews with Kafika House staff demonstrated responsiveness to the M&E tools. Pilot data collected from tools developed for program and impact evaluation were used to measure implementation quality and fidelity. Data collector buy-in and responsive and communicative partnership supports motivation for consistent data collection. Kafika House learned that program evaluation was imperative to data quality and fidelity while the academic team learned how to best support the evaluation plan. Utilizing an ecological model strengthened our consideration of the individual, community, and innovative factors of implementation that promoted the sustainability of the M&E program. Evaluation and planning adaptations in a resource-limited setting considered training, funding, sustainable integration, and administration of measurement tools.