Vital Strategies

What it reported doing in 2024

Data for health programs:- under civil registration and vital statistics (crvs) vital strategies continued its work in ensuring that a greater number of birth and death records are counted as part of its public health systems improvement objective. Across the three focus regions of africa, asia and latin america $5,218,000 annual and cumulative death records were improved or newly counted in countries receiving initiative support, up from $3,977,000 in 2023. Similar positive progress was achieved with birth records which increased to 6,339,000 in 2024 from 5,425,000 in 2023. 676 common, critical path process milestones were reported in the 24 two-year country work plans. Of these, 56% (379) completed and achieved institutionalization, and 27% (180) were deferred to the next phase. Successes were also achieved across multiple interventions. Legal and regulatory reviews were completed and recommendations produced in bolivia, ethiopia, india rajasthan, and kenya, while recommendations from reviews completed in the previous phase were produced for indonesia while the legal review process is ongoing in mozambique and morocco. Research on the barriers and facilitators to female death registration was carried out in bangladesh, india, the solomons islands and tanzania, and research on the experiences of gender diverse people with changing gender marker on legal identity documents in bulgaria, ecuador and peru (through ggp awards). Seven of the 23 countries were supported with specific technical assistance and document reviews from a gender equity perspective and representatives from eight countries participated in the gender equity mentoring program. Three countries (rwanda, the solomon islands, and tanzania) have completed all business process mapping and improvement milestones for birth and death registration, mccd, va, and vital statistics production. Cambodia and vietnam have also improved business processes for birth and death registration, mccd, and icd mortality coding. Lastly, nine countries have institutionalized pre-service requirements to teach correct certification practices in medical schools across the country, morocco and sri lanka have achieved institutionalization and scale up and require no further support. - over the past year, data impact program had a number of successes: 53 policy briefs were developed in 11 countries resulted in 8 informing a change in policy or practice through passing or implementing a policy recommendation or are in the process of being advanced for enactment. 68 projects across four countries were presented or published after participants completed a scientific communications training. Examples of policy successes across the 25 focus countries include free contraception, improved access for indigenous populations to reduce infant mortality in bolivia; prototype development of a tool for collecting disability indicators and the piloting of the data collection system for disability indicators in cambodia; and regional health bureau for addis ababa included a protocol for pre-hospital care for victims of road crashes, established a coordination center for emergency response and included pre-hospital care in their plan of action. Additional success were achieved in the institutionalization of technical areas. In bangladesh a data analytic unit was established with defined tors and sops with implementation of the sop. National his staff in solomon islands delivered data analytics and use training to provincial staff after attending trainings provided by the dip. Moreover, in ethiopia, an sop for producing vital statistics and a guide on vital statistics data quality self-assessments produced and the technical guidance for strengthening the vital statistics production process implemented. Lastly, in philippines, recommendations on the hpcpb competencies were incorporated into the hpdpb learning and development needs assessment (ldna). The ldna will be used to guide training activities and personn

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 72.5%; rating input score 73
• Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 88
• Fundraising efficiency: $63.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Pass
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 17.5%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.05; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings