Projects

Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Strategy to Strengthen Family Planning in Indonesia, 2014–2021

2021 – 2023

Project Overview

Objective

To evaluate the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s eight-year portfolio of family planning investments in Indonesia.

Project Motivation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a comprehensive family planning strategy in Indonesia in 2014, with the aim of revitalizing the nation’s family planning programming, and adapting it to the decentralization of health services in the country. After eight years of investments, the Foundation wound down its family planning assistance to Indonesia in 2022. To understand the impact of its family planning strategy and portfolio of investments, the Foundation’s family planning team engaged Mathematica to evaluate the portfolio, and generate learnings that could be used by government agencies, local philanthropic partners, grantees, and other family planning actors in Indonesia.

Partners in Progress

Center for Health Research, Universitas Indonesia

Prepared For

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $33.7 million between 2014 and 2022 to support Indonesia’s family planning program. As the foundation wound down its family planning investments in the country, they engaged Mathematica to draw out learnings from its Indonesia experience, and generate actionable insights to continue strengthening family planning programs in Indonesia and worldwide.

The Gates Foundation’s Indonesia family planning grantmaking supported interventions to strengthen health systems and bolster family planning supply and demand; funded advocacy and leadership trainings; and contributed to co-funded initiatives to catalyze commitment from Indonesian family planning actors. Key partners to implement the strategy included the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), international and local NGOs, philanthropic entities, and private-sector partners. Mathematica's evaluation objectives were to:

  • Provide a detailed overview of the foundation’s Indonesia family planning strategy and investments
  • Examine the contribution of the foundation’s investments to longer-term family planning outcomes 
  • Gauge the sustainability of gains made in family planning programming and outcomes under the strategy
  • Understand the benefits and challenges of the foundation’s engagement model
  • Highlight key wins and learnings

To collaboratively assess the impact of these wide-ranging efforts and meet these objectives, the Mathematica team, with its partner, the Center for Health Research at Universitas Indonesia (CHR-UI), used a variety of strategies to understand the strategy’s contribution to family planning outcomes. Methodologies included key informant interviews with government officials and other stakeholders; and analyses of district family planning budget allocations, insurance claims, and national survey data.

Related Staff

Lisa DeMaria

Lisa DeMaria

Senior Researcher

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Mahua Mandal

Mahua Mandal

Senior Researcher

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Ali Akram

Ali Akram

Senior Researcher

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Swetha Sridharan

Swetha Sridharan

Principal Researcher

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