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URC/CHS Projects
Past Projects in Research & Evaluation
Air Traffic Controller Hiring Assessment for the Federal Aviation Administration
The Separation and Control Hiring Assessment (SACHA) was a five-year contract through which URC developed and validated personnel selection procedures for the Federal Aviation Administration, increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the process used to select individuals entering the air traffic controller profession. The project, completed in 1996, consisted of five tasks: job analysis, predictor development, criterion development, validation of predictors for criteria, and utility analysis and implementation. The majority of tests in the preliminary selection battery used computer-based administration and scoring. A wide variety of types of selection procedures were developed, including measures of scanning, reasoning, the capacity to think in two- and three-dimensions, memory, active listening, the ability to translate material into visual representations, and a personality scale. The outcome of the project was a computer-administered test battery that can be readily updated as changes develop in air traffic control technology.
Angola Social Support Fund Evaluation
In response to acute social and economic crises during the 1980s, Social Support Funds financed through the World Bank sparked micro-projects to meet basic human needs and resolve urgent social problems in several African countries. One such fund, the Angolan Social Support Fund (FAS), had experienced remarkable success, despite a civil war and a central government distracted by that war. In December 1997, URC was hired by the Angolan FAS to carry out a fourteen-month social evaluation and beneficiary assessment. The study evaluated the impact of past and current projects financed through the FAS and assessed the capacity of community structures to implement future projects. Despite its implementation in a climate of escalating hostilities in Angola, the beneficiary assessment documented a high level of community information concerning FAS, well-established community capacity to implement and monitor projects, and a high level of satisfaction with project selection and implementation. URC also contributed to the development of a system to monitor economic and social conditions in the communities served by the FAS projects.
Asia Family Planning Operations Research Project
Funded through USAID's Office of Population, the Asia Family Planning Operations Research Project sought to improve the cost-effectiveness and user accessibility of family planning programs in Asia through operations research. URC provided technical support to government and private sector family planning program managers and researchers in seven countries, enabling them to assess obstacles to the effective delivery of family planning services and then identify and field test solutions to these problems. Over the life of the six-year contract, URC regional advisors based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Jakarta, Indonesia provided technical support for the design and implementation of 35 operations research studies to strengthen program management, service quality and coverage, promotion and education, and sustainability. The project ended in 1991.
Integration and Revenue Maximization Project for the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration in the District of Columbia
For the District of Columbia Department of Health’s Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration (APRA), URC carried out a six-month project in 2000 to develop an effective, comprehensive, and integrated system for providing addiction treatment services in a way that also maximizes third party recovery. URC worked in partnership with APRA to develop an automated survey and certification process for addiction treatment providers in the District of Columbia. We provided technical assistance to establish 25 pilot sites to test application and survey instruments and developed evaluation tools to monitor development and operation of the survey and certification system. In addition, URC assisted in giving workshops for treatment providers and in-service training for new surveyors and treatment staff.
Partnerships for Health Reform Project
As one of five organizations that participated in the five-year Partnerships for Health Reform (PHR) Project, URC provided technical assistance in applied research and health care management and financing to support USAID's global leadership efforts for health care reform. As a subcontractor to Abt Associates Inc., URC played a lead role in implementing PHR’s applied research agenda and provided technical support for cost and financing studies, National Health Accounts analyses, the design of tools for policy advocacy, and health care reform monitoring and evaluation. URC also managed the PHR Resource Center, which collected information on health reform worldwide and created a searchable bibliographic database available on the World Wide Web. Key URC country assistance activities under PHR included: decentralization planning and consensus-building workshops in Paraguay; long-term technical assistance in managed care and insurance systems in Indonesia; cost-effectiveness studies in Ecuador; development of a computerized financial planning model in Bolivia; maternal health cost studies in Malawi, Uganda, and Ghana; development of management information systems in Egypt; and design of a health care reform monitoring and evaluation system in the Dominican Republic. PHR was completed in 2000 and followed on by the PHRplus Project.
Primary Health Care Operations Research Project
The Primary Health Care Operations Research (PRICOR) Project was a ten-year research effort funded by USAID to help developing country decision-makers and health program managers strengthen the delivery of primary health care services through applied research. Through two consecutive cooperative agreements, URC pioneered the development of a practical, systematic approach to operations research on critical issues facing primary health care in developing countries, including the use of community health workers, organizing the community, community financing of primary health services, and community-based commodity distribution. PRICOR I supported 45 country-specific operations research studies designed to address the specific PHC policy and program issues identified by host country health officials and health program managers in 31 countries. In the second five years of the project, URC was asked to build on this successful operations research approach by developing and testing a methodology for the systematic assessment of the quality of service delivery in primary health care and the development of more rapid, smaller scale operations research studies. A major product of PRICOR II was the Primary Health Care Thesaurus, a comprehensive listing of indicators to measure the performance of the key activities and tasks that comprise service delivery and support for seven child survival interventions: immunization, oral rehydration, growth monitoring, management of acute respiratory infections, malaria case management, child spacing, and maternal health. By the project’s completion in 1991, PRICOR II conducted 15 in-depth systems analysis studies and supported 80 operations research studies in 12 countries, addressing problems in supervision, health worker training, drug supply and logistics, and health information systems.
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