Nepal Demographic and Health Survey
Macro provided technical support for all phases of the 2001 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The purpose of the NDHS—last done in 1996 with our help—was to collect recent and reliable information on fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. We used cluster sampling to survey about 8,900 households, including men for the first time in Nepal. We provided global positioning system units to calculate latitude and longitude coordinates for each sample cluster. This allowed data from the 2001 NDHS to be integrated into a geographic information system with other data collected in the same locales. We developed household, women’s, and men’s questionnaires, which were translated into three languages. Our staff conducted 4 weeks of training for 11 teams of supervisors, interviewers, and data editors. The survey was completed with response rates of 96 to nearly 100 percent in the three groups of respondents. Macro worked with local researchers and officials on data processing, analysis, and report preparation.

Child Survival Technical Support (CSTS)
Macro conducts the Child Survival Technical Support (CSTS) project, which assists private voluntary organizations (PVOs) in developing successful child survival programs. With millions of mothers and children around the world dying from preventable causes, these child survival programs strive to reduce illness and death through preventive health care programs for infants, children, and mothers. CSTS works to help PVOs increase their capacity to achieve sustainable service delivery in public health interventions with the goal of creating programs that will continue to serve mothers, children, and communities even when the PVO is no longer present.

We take a three-dimensional approach to providing assistance through CSTS—working with PVOs directly, working with the Child Survival Collaborations and Resource Group (CORE), and working with the Child Survival Grants Program office at USAID. CSTS assistance includes regional training events, telephone and in-person consulting, and dissemination of technical and informational documents.

World Bank Evaluation of Distance Learning Centers
Macro is performing an evaluation of the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) for the World Bank Institute (WBI). The GDLN is a network of more than 60 distance learning centers (DLC), most of which are independently owned. The DLCs provide learning opportunities to development decisionmakers and their teams. The centers are connected through a communications network of satellite, fiber-optic, and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) connections. This network of DLCs allows decisionmakers and other professionals to share experiences and receive training from a broad range of content providers, including the World Bank, local training institutes, United Nations agencies, and bilateral development organizations, among others.