The Smiling Sun Franchise Program (2007-2013) was a USAID-funded program in Bangladesh designed to support a network of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver a package of essential health services, with a focus on maternal and child health. The USAID-funded effort continues under a new program, called Smiling Sun, implemented under the NGO Health Service Delivery Project.

A 2012 Impact Evaluation of the Smiling Sun Franchise Program (SSFP) found that utilization of family planning, antenatal care, and vaccination in rural areas served by SSFP increased in general between 2008 and 2011 at a comparable rate to other rural areas. Overall, however, the market share of SSFP declined.

To gain insights into these findings and to inform planning, outreach, and communication messages for Smiling Sun, the Health Finance and Governance Project completed an analysis to identify who accessed care, who did not access care, and who accessed care at SSFP facilities for selected services. In particular, the analysis of the data from the 2012 Evaluation should help to determine what variables are associated with households’ decisions on whether they sought care, and, if they did seek care, where they sought care instead.

Analysis of Smiling Sun Survey Data to Inform Decisionmaking for the NGO Health Service Delivery Project