FRONTIERS
Operations Research

Operations research (OR) identifies service-delivery problems and tests new programmatic solutions to these problems. An important objective of OR is to provide program managers and policy decisionmakers with the information they need to improve and expand existing services. Increasingly, issues of gender, empowerment and life-long reproductive health issues affect the way in which service-delivery problems are defined and solutions developed.

OR employs many methodologies in a process that includes five basic steps: (1) problem identification and diagnosis; (2) strategy selection; (3) strategy experimentation and evaluation; (4) information dissemination; and (5) information utilization.

History of OR

Field-based research studies have been experimentally testing and evaluating innovative ways to deliver family planning and reproductive health services in developing countries since 1974, when the first OR project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

FRONTIERS builds on work conducted in over 40 countries since the mid-1980s through the Population Council's Operations Research and Technical Assistance (OR/TA) projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information, see selected OR/TA publications.

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See Also

• Strengthening Professional Resources
• FRONTIERS Tools and Manuals
• FRONTIERS Capacity Building
• FRONTIERS Research Tools
• FRONTIERS Technical Assistance/Institution Building

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For more information contact:
Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS)
Population Council
4301 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 280
Washington, DC 20008 USA
Telephone: +1 202 237 9400
Facsimile: +1 202 237 8410
E-mail: frontiers@popcouncil.org

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This page updated 21 December 2007

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