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Matthew Hodge, Ugochi Daniels, and Audrey Elster. African Youth Alliance, United Nations Population Fund, 220 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017, 212 297 5164, daniels@unfpa.org
Cost is a key consideration for planning, scaling up and sustaining programs. Determining the cost of interventions is plagued by numerous constraints. Few interventions have been implemented at scale and little evidence on cost exists. Contextual factors contribute significantly to the cost of scaling up and need to be identified for the full “cost picture”. The African Youth Alliance (AYA) is implementing a $57 million adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) program across four countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By partnering with a range of institutions, more than one million young people have been reached. To provide a costing model AYA has: 1. Identified the costing levels, total costs and disaggregated costs of those activities (and their inputs) required for scaling up. 2. Linked costs to various program life cycle stages to present a timeline for costing (in comparison to other costs). 3. Assessed contribution of contextual factors. Findings: 4. Major inputs to scaling up are collaboration and partnership, coordination (mechanisms, structures, resources, etc), institutional capacity strengthening and technical skills building. 5. Scaling up can account for up to 50% of program costs. 6. Costs related to scaling up are not “one-off” but are incurred throughout the program life cycle. 7. Some of the critical contextual determinants of scaling up are government coordination mechanisms, absorptive capacity of implementing organizations and community involvement. 8. The extent to which “elements of scalability” (skills, networks, systems, tools) are already available, determines both the cost of scaling up and time before interventions can commence.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, International, Evaluation
Related Web page: www.ayaonline.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.