Table 3.

Summary of methods and data sources

Method	Stage of results chain	Purpose	Data sources	Example finding
Process tracking	All, except impact.	Monitored fidelity of programme activities and outputs against ToC to identify successes and challenges during programme implementation	Meeting observation of EPI technical working group and other key meetings, increasingly structured over time (e.g. using structured checklists) Document review of Gavi grant applications, budgets and performance frameworks (i.e. M&E frameworks), EPI policies, plans and strategies, published literature Vaccines doses administered from HMIS Fact checking interviews to clarify whether something occurred, to facilitate description of the process In-depth interviews to understand why and how the processes unfolded as observed	See the 2016 cross-country report for how years of process tracking was used to explain years of HSS grant implementation delays across FCE countries (Gavi Full Country Evaluations Team, 2017)
RCA	All, except impact.	Generates and tests hypotheses about the underlying causes of key programme success and challenges against all available evidence Synthesizes relevant evidence for developing key findings and recommendations	Desk review, key informant and fact-checking interviews, analysis of HMIS data	See Figure 4 for an example related to the sub-optimal coverage of new vaccines in Mozambique
Small-area estimates of vaccine coverage	Outcomes	Improve granularity of estimates of vaccine coverage in FCE countries to inform recommendations for resource targeting	Household surveys	Small-area estimates identified sub-national inequalities in each country
Observational study of determinants and constraints of effective vaccine coverage (Phillips et al., 2018)	Outputs to outcomes	Identify determinants of effective vaccine coverage to inform recommendations for improvement	Household surveys with linked sero-surveys and health facility surveys Systematic review	See Phillips et al., 2018for estimates of the relative contribution of household and health systems determinants of the probability of a child being vaccinated
Resource tracking	Inputs	Estimate national resource envelopes and sources	Document review KIIs	Resource tracking results were reported in 2016 country reports and paved the way for further analyses of fiscal space and financing scenarios in 2017
Partnership/network analysis	Any (but primarily inputs to activities)	Evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and country ownership of national immunization partnerships and their contribution programme performance	Social network surveys Document review In-depth interviews	We analysed the structure and composition of the Uganda HPV vaccine introduction partners’ network to explain successes and challenges observed during decision-making around HPV vaccine (Kamya et al., 2016)
Vaccine effectiveness study	Impact	Estimate the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)	Nasopharyngeal carriage surveys Disease surveillance	Together, these studies provided strong evidence of the effectiveness and impact of PCV10 on nasopharyngeal carriage of vaccine-type pneumococcus and the incidence of vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia (Gavi Full Country Evaluations Team, 2017)
Regression analyses	Impact	Estimate the impact of new vaccine introductions of PCV and rotavirus vaccines on child mortality	Household surveys	Our analyses indicate that high coverage of new vaccines is associated with significant improvements in child mortality. In 2016, there were 10.1% (95% UI: 6.4, 13.8) and 11.9% (95% UI: 9.4, 14.3) reductions in under-5 mortality in Mozambique and Zambia, respectively, compared with scenarios where these vaccines were not introduced (Gavi Full Country Evaluations Team, 2017)
District case studies (Phase 2)	Inputs to activities to outputs to outcomes	Identify the drivers of district performance	HMIS data Document review In-depth interviews with district managers and health workers	District case studies identified barriers and enablers of vaccine coverage; see e.g. Uganda’s 2017–18 report (Gavi Full Country Evaluations Team, 2018)