Specific Intervention Design Document — Examples

Requirements Section

When answering these questions with regard to a family planning service supervision system, the requirements might include:

• Within two years, FP service supervisors competent in technical supervision will staff 100 percent of sites in zone X
• FP counseling services should be standardized across sites in zone X
• There should be clear performance standards tied to the overall organizational FP goals, and understood and agreed to by supervisors and FP service providers
• There should be a high level of FP service provider participation in supervisory sessions
• Technical guidance and feedback from supervisors to FP service providers should be targeted to teams or individual workers, as appropriate (i.e., optimally, technical guidance should occur just before new or problematic tasks are performed by workers)
• The cadre selected to be FP supervisors should be credible and acceptable to frontline FP service providers
• The supervision system should be technical and developmental (i.e., make provision for training and development), as well as administrative
• Supervision visits should take place at service providers’ work sites, occur on a regular schedule and offer timely support
• Operation of the supervision system should be convenient for FP service providers (should not require travel by provider)
• Incentives should feature positive feedback and timely recognition of good work
• The supervision system should cost less than $30,000 to develop and pilot in zone X the first two years of the project

Elements Section

Based on the requirements mentioned above, the supervision system might include the following elements:

• In-clinic, trimester team and individual performance planning sessions, including team and individual goal/target setting
• Dissemination/application of FP service guidelines and expectations
• Team-building activities
• Monthly performance review and yearly performance evaluation (with service provider participation in establishing performance measures and identifying skill deficits or action shortfalls)
• Administration of team and individual rewards and incentives. Rewards and incentives should reflect team contribution to organizational goals as well as individual contribution to team performance
• On-the-job training for performance areas requiring increased skill
• Training for new supervisors in FP service supervision

Specifications Section

For the design/development of a supervision system, design specifications might include:

• Goal and objectives of each intervention element
• Events related to the intervention itself (e.g., team and individual supervisory sessions)
• Processes (e.g., participatory, joint agreement on targets and achievement)
• Activities (e.g., on-the-job training with skills assessment and use of FP service protocols; individual and team work planning)
• Physical materials to be produced (e.g., FP service protocols; supervisory visit calendars by district; supervisory tools, including skills assessment instruments; and booklets to record six-month achievement of performance targets)
• Resources needed (e.g., funding for outside technical assistance and to develop and implement the supervisory activities, etc.)
• Responsibilities for development of intervention elements
• Tasks, sub-tasks and schedule of completion of supervision system materials (including pre- and field-testing)