Options has a strong track record in South West Asia. We are currently managing long-term programmes in India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Options work in India
Options has experience of working in India since 1997 and has an office in Orissa.

See below for illustrations of our work:

Health Systems Development Initiative (HSDI), TA Support Team (TAST)
Options, along with its Indian partner organisation, Infrastructure Professionals Enterprise (IPE), is currently managing the DFID funded Technical Assistance Support Team (TAST) to the Health Systems Development Initiative. TAST is a management and technical team of support to the implementation of West Bengal's Department of Health and Family Welfare health sector strategy through its Strategic Planning and Sector Reform Cell. TAST works with the SPSRC and other relevant government departments and programmes to strengthen their capacity to coordinate the planning, design and implementation of the government's health and nutrition strategies. TAST is working closely with the DHFW to guide the further development and implementation of evidence based health policy. For this effective monitoring and evaluation systems are being strengthened and TAST focuses on increasing the capacity of Department of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Women and Child Development and partner organizations of the state government. Other areas that TAST is supporting are health financing, public health management, maternal, neonatal and child health, organisational development/human resources, private sector and public-private-partnerships, and assets and supplies management of the DHFW for health sector reform.

Resource Centre for Sexual Health and HIV & AIDS
Options was the technical partner in the partnership managing the DFID funded programme of capacity building and technical assistance to the National AIDS control organisation (NACO) and the State AIDS control societies (SACS) to develop and implement programmes effectively in response to the HIV & AIDS epidemic in eight DFID supported states in India.  Options provided technical assistance to build capacity to strengthen the ability to establish effective mechanisms for the delivery of sexual health and HIV & AIDS programmes.

Global Business Plan for Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5:  Phase I of the Advocacy Plan
In the summer of 2006, the Norwegian Prime Minister's office convened several partners, including Norad, DFID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This group launched a new initiative called the Global Business Plan (GBP) to reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 (reduce child mortality) and 5 (improve maternal health).  Phase I involved the mapping and analysis of existing advocacy strategies surrounding MDGs 4 & 5 in order to feed recommendations into the design of a new advocacy strategy (Phase II). Options consultants conducted the mapping and analysis in Orissa, India through interactions with government functionaries, media and civil society organizations. India, among other countries, was selected because of its potential to reach MDGs, availability of data on indicators, political receptiveness, capacity to act, existence of opportunity and contacts and networks.  This exercise identified the key players in the GBP campaign, gaps in terms of commitment, advocacy capacity and resources, and what inputs are needed to get national level campaigns off the ground.

Output-to-Purpose Review of Population Council's Transitions to Adulthood Programme, India and Ethiopia
DFID is funding the Population Council's project "Support of Adolescent Girls - Transition to Safe, Self-Determined and Productive Adulthood" A joint independent review was undertaken to assess progress made by the programme against its stated purposes and outputs, and to assess the impact of the work and its implications for DFID policy and practice. Options conducted the review, meeting with key stakeholders and undertaking field visits to India and Ethiopia. Options reviewed the inputs and outputs and assessed the impact of the project: on awareness of the vulnerabilities and capacities of adolescent girls; whether the Population Council's programme of work has brought added value to adolescent policy, the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda; and how the work of the Population Council is influencing the work of other key agencies on adolescent policies in the international family planning and reproductive health fields.

Options work in Nepal
Options has been working in Nepal since 1997 to improve maternal and newborn child health as well as sexual and reproductive health services, in partnership with government ministries, local organisations and international non-governmental organisations.

See below for illustrations of our work:

Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme
Options is currently implementing the Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme (SSMP) which works closely with the Government, through the Ministry of Health and Population and Department of Health Services, to develop and implement an integrated package of inputs within the National Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Programme, in order to improve maternal and newborn health and survival, especially of the poor and excluded.  SSMP is focusing on supporting government interventions to impact on maternal and newborn mortality at the national level as part of a wider process of health sector reform in Nepal. The SSMP supports His Majesty's Government of Nepal's capacity to plan, monitor and evaluate its own Safe Motherhood Plan. Options is providing international short and long-term technical assistance to support the policy and planning process, and building MOH capacity in maternal and newborn health. The programme supports improvements in maternal health services, supporting human resource development, investments in infrastructure, equipment and supplies, and rolling out comprehensive abortion care.   We are also evaluating the Maternity Incentive Scheme (MIS) which the government is implementing to help mitigate the high financial cost of childbirth (transport, loss of earnings/support and medical costs). It is doing so by providing financial assistance to women seeking institutional care at childbirth and also by providing an additional boost to the financing of health care providers and institutions. The scheme is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), with funds provided as direct financial assistance to the government of Nepal (GoN). The goal of the scheme is to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in line with the GoN's commitment to the MDGs and the health-related targets established in the PRSP.   SSMP follows and builds on the DfID supported Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP), which was implemented by Options between 1997and 2004. For more information, refer to www.safemotherhood.org.np

Nepal Safer Motherhood Project
Through the Nepal Safer Motherhood Project (NSMP), implemented over a seven-year period from 1997 to 2004, Options worked with the Family Health Division (FHD) in 10 districts to reduce maternal deaths in Nepal by improving the quality of public maternity services and enabling more women to use such services, by working with local groups. NSMP also supported the development of national safe motherhood policies and plans by drawing on district experience to inform national policy and by supporting national initiatives, such as legalisation of safe abortion,. NSMP was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) with a budget of £5.8 million.

Pakistan
Options main project in Pakistan, Technical Assistance Management Agency, is broadly designed to tackle federal, provincial and district level problems that limit the effectiveness of the health and population programmes: the lack of resources, of implementation and monitoring capacity, and of effective policy.

See below for illustrations of our work:

Technical Assistance Management Agency - Support to the National Health and Population Welfare Programmes of the Government of Pakistan
TAMA procured and managed technical assistance (TA) to support the DFID funded four-year National Health and Population Facility (NHF). The purpose of the NHF is to increase the utilisation of public health services, particularly by the poor in order to improve their health.  It is designed to tackle federal, provincial and district level problems that limit the effectiveness of the health and population programmes: the lack of resources, of implementation and monitoring capacity, and of effective policy.

Doorsteps Project
The Doorsteps Project, implemented by the Family Planning Assocaition of Pakistan (FPAP) in Narowal District is designed to develop a replicable and cost effective approach to increasing contraceptive prevalence and the provision of reproductive health services in rural areas.  Options is providing long-term technical assistance to in baseline survey methodology and participatory quality assurance monitoring.  Ongoing technical assistance is being provided by national consultants to undertake a poverty study which will help FPAP to develop an exemption strategy; and budgetary and financial analysis to assist FPAP to measure the cost-effectiveness of the project and to set an appropriate pricing policy for their reproductive health services. Options developed a conceptual framework for the provision of this package of inter-linked technical assistance in order to maximise the benefit to the Project of the technical assistance.

Design of Asian Development Bank/GoP Loan Reproductive Health Project
The Asian Development Bank provided a $45 Million loan to the Ministry of Population Welfare (MPW) to fund a reproductive health project that aimed to improve the reproductive health status of families (particularly the rural poor) and reduce fertility and maternal and infant mortality.Options, in collaboration with a national consultancy firm, provided a six person team of national/international consultants to work with the MPW over six months to design the project. The team proposed cost-effective ways to expand and improve the range and quality of RH services to underserved populations in general, and the poor in particular.   The team proposed viable ways to provide education to adolescents and traditional communities and address specific management, supervision, supplies, equipment, monitoring and training requirements.

Bangladesh
Options work in Bangladesh has focused on scaling-up the health and education sectors, increasing access to quality sexual and reproductive health services for underserved and disadvantaged communities, and developing long term strategic plans for sustainable improvements in health outcomes.     

See below for illustrations of our work:

Study on the Role of Civil Society Participation in Strengthening Service Delivery
The purpose of this study was to document examples of effective citizen participation that have influenced and improved the quality of service delivery, primarily in health, in Bangladesh. The case studies informed emerging health policy on the role of citizen participation as a means of improving responsiveness of services to user needs and increasing public accountability.  At the end of the study, the findings were disseminated at a workshop with government and civil society stakeholders.

Design of NGO Reproductive Health Services Project
The Reproductive Health Services Project 2 (RHSP2) was a £3.2M project managed by the Marie
Stopes Clinic Society (MSCS) over three years. Phase 1 of this project ended in 2001. The purpose of phase 2 was to increase utilisation of quality sexual and reproductive health services by the poor, vulnerable and/or under-served adolescents, women and men in urban populations, focussing on improved access to health care, replication of innovative approaches to service delivery, and improving the policy environment.

Design of Pooled Funding Mechanism for NGOs in Health and Education
Options, working in partnership with Cambridge Education Consultants (CEC) was contracted to undertake a "Scoping Study" into the development of a new "pooled funding mechanism" for the health and education sectors.  The aim was to develop a new funding mechanism that would reduce transaction costs, thus increasing funding to the NGO sector.  The Scoping Study incorporated meetings and discussions with a wide variety of stakeholders including officials of the Government of Bangladesh, development partners and NGOs of all sizes.

Evaluation of the Contribution of UNFPA and IPPF to Addressing Reproductive Rights and Health Needs of Young People after ICPD
The evaluation focused on the period since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, with the goal to contribute to a better understanding of the conditions necessary for achieving best practice, and to draw strategic lessons for the future.  Options coordinated this complex assignment, which brought together a team of 12 international consultants, 6 national consultants and 8 national partners to evaluation UNFPA and FPA programmes in six countries.  The evaluation took place in Bangladesh as well as Burkina Faso, Egypt, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Vietnam over a 12 month period.