22  Planning Ahead

The objective of the final session of the workshop is to identify concrete actions to take forward the work you have completed. As you have been preparing and interpreting your analyses, you have been encouraged to think about the full cycle of data-driven decision-making. (See diagram below.) This starts with identifying the data users and understanding the questions or issues they aim to address, and then preparing the findings, interpretation and insights that would be most useful for addressing those questions or issues. Information products and dissemination strategies should be tailored to align with users’ preferences and should be supplemented with support to decision-makers in utilizing the analysis and following up on agreed actions. This requires ongoing engagement between data providers and users to understand needs and to learn what is most useful in responding to those needs.

Diagram. Cycle of data-drive decision-making

As you prepare your plans, consider your use cases and audiences, as well as the platforms and meetings that could be leveraged to reach these audiences. It will be important to do more than just share the analysis as a one-off event, so think about how to feed into routine forums where data and analyses are used, and decisions are taken. A primary use will be contributing to routine reviews of progress and performance led by the Ministry of Health, such as analytical reports for annual reviews or for global reporting on RMNCAH-N.

Consider also how this will connect with your Countdown country collaboration and existing plans to build capacity for RMNCAH data analysis and use. For instance, if you are having working sessions with your target audiences to share the findings, you could also use this as an opportunity to explore some of the concepts learned during the workshop and to strengthen competencies to interpret the analyses and identify opportunities for action (see further suggestions below). If you have participated in CAM workshops in previous years, reflect on what has worked well so far and whether there are new use cases, audiences or dissemination approaches you could explore, drawing on your experiences and those of other countries.

Purpose of the activity	Examples
Supporting data use and action	Present findings, interpretation and key insights to the country platform and technical workings groups for them to review and interpret. Support them to identify opportunities to take action based on data and evidence - for example, address gender or geographic inequities, test pilots with implementation research or evaluation, advocate for policy change or resources, etc. Include analysis as part of evidence base to inform the development of new RMNCAH-N strategy, a mid-term review and an evaluation, where any of these are underway. Produce an article or analytical brief for targeted audiences with key learning, takeaways, and proposed actions following the workshop, as an entry point for follow-up.
Building capacity	Carry out cascade training at national and district levels on the concepts, interpretation, and use of specific analyses, through the country Countdown collaboration. Hold sessions to sensitize national bureau of statistics staff on Countdown methodology to build ownership. Share the concepts and findings of health facility data quality assessment with HMIS and M&E staff to build their understanding and as an opportunity for strengthening routine systems for data quality. Build HMIS and M&E staff capacity to understand the relevance of gender and equity-related indicators and analyses. Build capacity of staff to incorporate some of the new analytical techniques and approaches into dashboards, policy briefs, statistical reports, etc.
Identifying needs for further analysis	Identify opportunities for implementation research to address bottlenecks or to inform potential scale-up/replication of successes based on findings from the analysis. Identify opportunities for further research or analysis in order to better understand trends in gender and inequity that were observed in the analysis and to inform options for action.