“Running out of Time”: Developing an Investment Case for interventions in female health to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by year 2030

Service Category: Market & Impact Research

Client Type: United Nations Development Agency

Service: There was growing anxiety that some countries were off track to meet the SDGs by 2030. Our client decided to quantify gaps and provide strategies and costings for UN use and that of national governments. We were hired to lead the research for a West African country as part of continental pioneers. We were asked to develop SDG cases for:
·      Reducing Maternal Mortality
·      Improving Family Planning and
·      Eliminating Gender-Based Violence

What we did:

We:
• Conducted national situational analyses with comparison to peer countries
• Identified baseline of existing activities, delivery structures, programmes and financing
• Populated UN activity and costing tools to forecast requirements to 2030 and to identify resource gaps
• Assessed implementation risks and suggested mitigation measures.

Foresight Created: Our approach received international acclaim. We advised against investment in a favoured intervention due to acute national risks. Not too long after our report, the risks happened and our quality was affirmed. We also noted reported advances in maternal mortality for which the monitoring and evaluation data was weak – preventing learning and affirmation of reported outcomes. Plans were good but implementation monitoring weak. This needed fixing. Countries needed to take greater ownership of SDGs.