Table 2.

Evaluation activities, evidence and course correction in the implementation plan by BRAC

Evaluation activities 2014–2018	Evidence from findings of evaluation	Course correction by BRAC
First qualitative assessment, 2014	CHW sold MNP on loan, and sometimes distributed MNP sachets free of charge	Provided four boxes of MNP free of charge to the CHW as revolving fund
	Unwillingness of family members to buy MNP	Developed simple pictorial counselling card for use by frontline workers for interactive counselling with caregivers; the same materials were also used in social mobilisation sessions
	Limited storage capacity resulted in stock-outs of MNP at the national level	Hired warehouse spaces at both central and regional levels
	Mothers who had interactions with BRAC’s CHW were more aware of MNP	Increase in the incentives for CHW to increase their contact with mothers
First baseline survey, 2014 in phase I districts	Limited home visits by BRAC’s CHW: only 25 % of households had been visited within 2 months of the survey	Changed the incentive disbursement period and provided micro-business plan training to CHW
		Recommendation to conduct operations research to improve the performance of CHW
Second qualitative assessment, 2015	CHW’ lack of skills in promoting MNP	Revised refresher training strategy
	SK/PK were demotivated to assist the SS when only the SS were eligible to receive incentives	Introduced performance-based incentives for SK/PK
	Stock-outs of MNP among CHW and households: supplies of MNP were not increasing although demand had increased	Ensured the availability of buffer stocks at the sub-district level
Second baseline survey, 2015 in phase II districts	72 % of caregivers reported having run out of MNP in their households
First midline survey, 2015 in phase I districts	Limited use of MNP calendar at the household level (only 4·1 % of households had an MNP calendar and, among these households, only 2·5 % marked on the calendar)	Developed, tested and distributed an easy-to-use MNP card considering the challenges in using a calendar
Operations research, 2016	CHW lack confidence in promoting MNP to their communities ‘We are either illiterate or have only basic education. So, why should people listen to us?’ (CHW, FGD)	Revised recruitment criteria of BRAC’s CHW
		Created counselling card (job-aid) for CHW to assist them with counselling so that all caregivers would receive a consistent message
Process evaluation, 2016	Coordination gap between the sub-district and national-level programme staff in terms of understanding the demand and stock of MNP	Recruited supply chain officer to monitor and maintain supply and stock issues and to conduct record-keeping and reporting