Patna, Aug. 18: The Institute of International Education (IIE) organised a meeting today to disseminate the findings of the yearlong evaluation process conducted under the guidance of Research Center for Leadership in Action, New York, and national evaluator Anita Anand.

The leadership development mechanism programme was started in the country in 2001 and was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in two states — Bihar and Jharkhand. IIE implemented the programme. Its focus was leadership development in order to improve reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) indicators.

The findings said big contributions were made at individual, organisational and community levels in the state in the field of reproductive health and family planning.

Namrata Jha, the IIE acting director, said: “Ten years ago, there was no other donor except David and Lucile Packard Foundation. At present, many others like World Bank have turned up. This is a major achievement and the main reason behind this is that the credibility of non-government organisations has increased in the past few years. New organisations/agencies should also come forward to take the work further. Then the impact will be wider.”

Anita Anand, on the other hand, feels the need to break mental barriers. Anand said: “Everyone does excellent work on an individual level but it’s time for collaborations. After breaking mental barriers, they need to collaborate and produce the best results.”