Creating an evidence base for village level evaluations in Tanzania: Pilot data from the Whole Village Project

Background: Creating a rigorous program evaluation to assess the impact of health promotion interventions is often expensive and beyond the scope of most program implementers. The Whole Village Project (WVP) in Tanzania is designed to assess the longitudinal impact of a variety of health, agriculture and economic development assistance projects. Methods: The WVP uses a longitudinal study design that combines surveys from 60 to 75 randomly selected households per village with focus groups and key informant interviews. Baseline data are being collected in 55 villages in northern Tanzania in 2009-2010. Key measures include socio-economic status, education, child growth, nutrition, food security, HIV/AIDS awareness, mosquito net usage, natural resource use, livestock resources, and agriculture. Data are collected at the individual, household, and village level and reported back to villages within ten months of the initial visit. Results: Baseline data from 15 villages suggests significant differences in nutrition, food security, child growth outcomes and mosquito net usage between pastoralist/agropastoralist and agriculturalist villages. Agriculturalist villages tend to have greater rainfall, are closer to major roads and towns and receive greater numbers of services from non-governmental organizations working in health promotion. Civic engagement varies significantly by village with no clear trends by occupation, geography or ethnicity. Discussion: The design of the WVP allows for an independent evaluation of the impact of a variety of public health interventions and the identification of best practices. The WVP provides the data back to villagers, government officials, NGOs and funders in order to improve communication, collaboration and policy.