How to Evaluate a Grant for Maternity
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, "Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance." Thus many nations provide public benefits to pregnant and parenting women and their children, including free/low-cost health care, paid job leave, child care and maternity grants, which generally defray expenses like the cost of a layette. Even a small, developing country such as Grenada offers a minimum maternity grant of EC$450 as of 2010. Well-administered and -evaluated maternity grant programs make the greatest difference, especially for low-income and otherwise distressed families.
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Instructions
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Evaluating Individual/Family or Institutional Applicants
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Familiarize yourself with the maternity grant program's application procedures and eligibility criteria. For example, the United Kingdom's Sure Start Maternity Grant, a one-time sum of £500 as of 2010, is like most national maternity grants because it is given directly to low-income individuals and families who apply. However, in the United States, the federal Pregnancy Assistance Fund awards money not to families but to states and Native American tribes. They then use the money for programs that help pregnant and parenting women complete their educations and access vital support services, including those for prevention and recovery from gender-based violence.
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Determine how flexible the application procedures and eligibility criteria for the program are. Reviews of previously accepted and rejected applications can be informative.
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Compare the applicant's relevant characteristics and circumstances to the program's eligibility criteria.
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Make your decision, communicating it to the applicant within the promised time frame. If the applicant qualifies for the grant, clarify how and when it will be disbursed. If you reject the applicant, inform her of your reasons and her options for complaint, appeal or re-application.
Evaluating Program Performance
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Design evaluation of your maternity grant program from the outset. For example, Positive Alternatives, run by the state of Minnesota, has asked its grantee organizations to submit detailed work plans and quarterly reports, and open themselves to site visits.
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Choose clear, comprehensible performance measures that best fit the particular program. For example, if the program disburses cash directly to families, you could compare the number of families in need to those who actually receive grants. It might also be instructive to survey recipients about the purchases they make with the grant and the effects of the money on other household spending.
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Expand your performance measures as you go along to gain deeper insight into your program's effects. Positive Alternatives, for one, initially focused upon the numbers and geographic locations of women served. It later assessed grantees' implementation of "proven public health activities such as assuring adequate prenatal and postpartum care, parenting education, child abuse prevention, family planning, smoking cessation, car seat education, safe infant sleeping practices and adequate nutrition," according to the Minnesota Department of Health website.
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Tips & Warnings
The United States Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer free online instruction on program evaluation.
References
- Direct.gov [UK]: Sure Start Maternity Grant
- Minnesota Department of Health: Positive Alternatives Evaluation Summary 2006-2008
- Minnesota Department of Health: Positive Alternatives Grant Program
- Social Security Online: Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Grenada
- United States Department of Health and Human Services: Pregnancy Assistance Fund: Support for Pregnant and Parenting Teens and Women
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Resources
- Free Resources for Program Evaluation and Social Research Methods
- United States Agency for International Development: Global Health eLearning Center
- United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Tuberculosis (TB): Program Evaluation
- WorkInfo.com: NATLEX: information on national laws including labour, social security and related human rights issues
- Photo Credit awaiting image by Yurok Aleksandrovich from Fotolia.com
