3.3.5 Reviewing your objectives
You need to constantly review your objectives by measuring the outcomes, so that you can change the way that you are working, if necessary. While the vision and overall goal is fixed by the health sector strategic plan, your community-level strategy is not. You can and should change it if it doesn’t seem to be working.
Case Study 3.3 Using SMART objectives to review your performance
Your SMART objective is to increase condom use by 40% among couples in your community within one year. You have chosen the strategy of training 15 peer educators on how to use condoms consistently and correctly to achieve this purpose. You met all your training targets and in monitoring and evaluating the outcomes you found that condom use among couples has increased by 55% after a year.
Are your objectives being met by the way that you have chosen to tackle this problem in your community?
Yes; your strategy of training peer educators to achieve behaviour change among couples is succeeding and does not need to be altered.
Case Study 3.4 SMART objectives can identify a problem
Your SMART objective is to increase the uptake of contraceptive pills by 25% within one year among the women of childbearing age in your village. You chose the strategy of using outreach workers to distribute the pills from house to house. In monitoring and evaluating the outcomes at the end of the year, you found that most women in the community were not using the pills they received.
Are your objectives being met by the way that you have chosen to tackle this problem in your community, or should you redirect some of your resources to offer more choice of family planning methods?
Your objectives are not being met and you should think about a change of strategy and perhaps redirect your resources.
3.3.4 Setting objectives