• Promote the application of effective improvement methodologies to strengthen the quality of priority health services
  
• Institutionalize quality assurance activities at a national or regional level
  
• Build institutional capacity to sustain quality assurance activities
  
• Document and evaluate improvements in human resource management (HRM) that affect quality of care
  
• Conduct research to adapt QA and HRM approaches to the needs of developing and middle-income countries
  
• QAP also collaborates closely with international technical assistance agencies and other USAID cooperating agencies to share and promote quality assurance approaches to achieve USAID strategic objectives.

The project's website, http://www.qaproject.org, features a large body of downloadable publications on quality assurance methods and their application in developing countries, operations research findings, and issue papers.

• Short-Term Technical Assistance. Upon request from USAID Missions, the project collaborates with non-governmental organizations and cooperating agencies to support achievement of Mission strategic objectives. Key areas of short-term technical assistance are designing and conducting quality of care assessments, incorporating quality assurance components into project design, evaluation of QA activities, consultation on specific quality issues, and conducting quality awareness seminars. QAP is currently providing short-term technical assistance in Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Peru, Tanzania, and Vietnam.

• Operations Research. The project supports operations research to advance the field of quality improvement by testing and documenting quality assurance and human resource management approaches in developing country settings, validating new methodologies to improve quality, and assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of QA and HRM interventions in improving the quality and outcomes of care of priority health programs. Both formal research studies and research undertaken in the context of continuous monitoring and evaluation of country programs contribute to this evidence base. (For more information on QAP's operations research activities, link to Quality Assurance Project/Operation Research.)

• Training. The project implements training to facilitate the introduction and adoption of quality assurance concepts and tools. Training methods include traditional classroom training, as well as more innovative training methods, such as "just-in-time" training and computer-based training. (For more information on the QA Project’s Training activities, link to Quality Assurance Project/Training.)

• Regulatory Strategies. The project adapts approaches for accreditation and other regulatory strategies for assuring quality of care to developing country situations through technical assistance to national and provincial accreditation programs, operations research, dissemination of technical publications, and sponsoring international and regional technical meetings to share results and lessons.

• Technical Leadership. The project disseminates the results of country field activities and operations research studies, QA methods, emerging QA issues, and advances in the QA field through technical publications, CD-ROM products, and its website. The project’s technical staff participate in international conferences and regularly provide informational briefings on project activities and programs.

• Support for global and regional initiatives. QAP lends quality assurance expertise to a number of USAID-supported collaborative initiatives involving cooperating agencies, international donors, and non-governmental organizations. These include the Latin American Maternal Mortality Reduction Initiative, Maximizing Access and Quality (MAQ) Initiative, the Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group of the PVO CORE Group, and the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sector Reform Initiative.

• Initiatives Inc., a Boston-based firm experienced in human resource management and health program quality improvement
  
• Joint Commission Resources, Inc., the consulting arm of the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, based in Oakbrook, Il.
  
• Dragonfly Communications, Ltd.., a firm specialized in computer-based learning and communication located in Washington, DC

• Africa: Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia
• Asia: Bangladesh, Vietnam
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru
• Russia

• Quality Assurance Monographs present validated QA tools and methodologies to health practitioners.

• Operations Research Results are 10-15 page summaries of findings and methods of individual QA Project operations research studies.

• Issue Papers provide a thorough and engaging overview of the latest in research findings on topics relevant to the project's work, such as the use of job aids, competency assessment, and improving health workers' compliance with standards.

• Case Studies present real applications of QA methods in developing countries to improve maternal and reproductive health, child survival, and infectious disease services. Each case study focuses on one or more of such major QA activity areas as quality improvement, quality design, communication and development of standards, and quality assessment.

• The Quality Performance Learning Series. This series of cost-effective, innovative, computer-based learning tools improves competencies, enhances learning, and increases knowledge. Products include the Tuberculosis Case Management CD-ROM, the Quality Assurance Kit CD-ROM, and the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness CD-ROM.

• Health Manager's Guides offer key quality assurance approaches and useful "how-to" case examples of quality assurance methods applied in developing country settings.

• Managing Quality Through Regulation Conference CD-ROM. Contains executive summaries of presentations, PowerPoint shows, handouts, useful website links, sponsor publications, and contact information for speakers and participants at the Managing Quality Through Regulation: Priorities and Possibilities Conference, held October 4-5, 2000, in Washington DC.

• Technical Reports provide descriptions of QAP technical interventions in specific settings.

• Evaluation Reports offer in-depth summaries of QA program evaluations in countries with long-term QA activities.