Using Model Projects to Introduce Change into Family Planning Programs

Managers face the continuing task of introducing change into programs; one popular but little-researched vehicle for introducing planned changes has been the demonstration or model project. To study this vehicle two Latin American programs converted one clinic to model status; the manifest purpose of the model clinics was trial adoption and evaluation of promising innovations prior to dissemination to other units in the two organizations. Performance data for the two model clinics strongly suggested that the innovations adopted had a positive impact on performance; however dissemination of the innovations preceded receipt of validating data. It was observed that program managers were primarily concerned with the resistance encountered by the innovations; the model clinics served as testing sites for managers to gauge opposition to and build constituencies for desired changes. (EXCERPT)

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