Translating pilot project success into national policy development: two projects in Bangladesh

"This article reviews the experience of two pilot projects in Bangladesh that have addressed the question of how [operations] research can be designed to foster its utilization. In a rural field experiment [begun in 1972] in Matlab subdistrict, research has demonstrated that contraceptive services, if carefully designed and properly implemented, can influence demographic dynamics even where social and economic circumstances are not conducive to fertility change. Despite the success that Matlab represents, the project was not systematically utilized for policy until a second study [begun in 1981] was launched to address government questions concerning its replicability in the public sector programme. Results suggest that pilot projects, if fielded in conjunction with research systems for testing their replicability, can foster organizational development in contexts that are not conducive to bureaucratic change."