Nevertheless, it is now clear from in-depth analyses and judgments that the situation in Nilphamari has changed dramatically.
Many activities are now being sustainably handled by local groups and stakeholders, demonstrating the community’s enhanced ability and resilience. This change demonstrates the community’s capacity to carry on these essential initiatives on its own and shows a decreased reliance on outside assistance. Furthermore, new goals that need for different treatments than those offered in the past have emerged because of demographic shifts and changing socioeconomic variables. To ensure that our efforts are focused where they can have bigger impact, Plan International is able to reallocate resources to areas with more pressing needs because of this phase-out from Nilphamari.
The data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) reports and Sponsorship Programme Area Reports (SPAR), along with community feedback, illustrate substantial progress in key development indicators. Educational initiatives have notably increased school attendance and literacy rates, particularly among young women, contributing to gender parity in education. Health interventions have improved infant and maternal health outcomes and increased awareness and practices around breastfeeding and immunizations, demonstrating a clear impact on community health standards.
According to the SPAR report (data collected from the local statistics offices), in 2019/2020, 100% of the Sponsored Children enrolled in primary schools, whereas the drop-out rate was 3.8% before high school, meaning 96.2% of the enrolled children graduated from primary school, which is very good when compared to the national and district-level data.
According to MICS report- 2019, 59.9% of women started breastfeeding within one hour of birth and 96.3% started breastfeeding within one day of birth. The data show a significant improvement compared to that of 2009, which was 48.3% of women started breastfeeding within one hour of birth and 92.6% started breastfeeding within one day of birth. Furthermore, in 2019, 85.7% of the population used improved sanitation facilities, which was significantly higher than that in 2009 (55.9% in Nilphamari).
In MICS report- 2019, we see that 35.9% of girls aged 15-19 years at that time were married (at the time of the assessment), while it was 38.6% in MICS report 2012-2013.
To ensure programme sustainability, a plan will be implemented to confirm that the community continues independently with the interventions after the programme phases out of the area.
