Social accountability for family planning: A case study of the Healthy Action Project in Uganda

In July 2014, the Evidence Project gathered 26 experts for a two-day meeting on Strengthening the Evidence Base on Social Accountability for Improving Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs. Participants included social accountability experts from diverse fields (governance, maternal health, family planning) as well as researchers, implementers, and activists. The meeting was one of the first public discussions that addressed social accountability in the context of family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH). Meeting participants agreed on the need for case studies of FP/RH initiatives to identify “good practices” in order to advance the application of social accountability to the FP/RH field. The Evidence Project is conducting a case study—in two districts in Uganda—of one such initiative featured at the meeting, namely the Healthy Action Project (HA). This activity brief summarizes the case study and how the HA project improved clients’ access to FP/RH services at the district level through the use of social accountability mechanisms

Dynamics of postpartum IUD use in India

Evidence suggests that in India, compared to married women in general, postpartum married women have a much higher need for family planning that remains unmet. India’s postpartum IUD (PPIUD) program aims to help postpartum women space pregnancies and prevent mistimed or unwanted births. The majority of PPIUD users in this study were young, educated, and had one child. Most were involved in making the final decision about which family planning method to use after discussions with the provider, and most had spoken with a frontline health worker at least once about family planning methods in the three months preceding birth and about the IUD. Thus, frontline health workers are an important source of family planning information to pregnant women including information about the PPIUD. This brief reports that their interactions with providers at IUD insertion indicate that there is room for improvement in quality of care and includes a number of recommendations that will help strengthen India’s family planning program

The RAISE Health initiative for workers, companies, and communities

RAISE Health is an initiative to improve the health of factory and farm workers (women and men) in developing countries through changes in global and corporate policies and workplace practices. Effective management of workplace health is good for companies and workers alike, resulting in better health and morale, better labor-management relations, empowerment of women, and better use of company health investments. Worker health is typically one of the most neglected areas in business operations. As this activity brief notes, RAISE Health is a major activity of the USAID-funded Evidence Project. The goal of the initiative is to utilize the existing business systems of corporations and their supplier farms and factories to address the health needs of millions of women and men workers in such overlooked areas as family planning, reproductive health, maternal and child health, nutrition, hygiene, and other important health concerns. RAISE Health promotes worker health by developing and advocating for better policies within the global framework of standards, codes, and compliance for corporations and their supply chains, and documenting and disseminating best practices

Leading in the legacy of Vincent de Paul: reflections on Vincentian leadership today

Vincent on Leadership: The Hay Project awakens and advances the vision, values and leadership practices of St. Vincent de Paul in people and organizations worldwide. Providing research, leadership development and collaboration in the manner of St. Vincent, the Project ensures the continuation of the legacy of St. Vincent de Paul’s organizational genius and leadership skills in the service of others.https://via.library.depaul.edu/hay_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

The AIDS Project News (November 1986)

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/aids_news/1005/thumbnail.jp

EuPRAXIA - a compact, cost-efficient particle and radiation source

Plasma accelerators present one of the most suitable candidates for the development of more compact particle acceleration technologies, yet they still lag behind radiofrequency (RF)-based devices when it comes to beam quality, control, stability and power efficiency. The Horizon 2020-funded project EuPRAXIA ("European Plasma Research Accelerator with eXcellence In Applications") aims to overcome the first three of these hurdles by developing a conceptual design for a first international user facility based on plasma acceleration. In this paper we report on the main features, simulation studies and potential applications of this future research infrastructure

Uganda retail audit: Analysis and report

This brief presents results of a retail audit, carried out in January 2016, that was commissioned as part of PATH’s work under the USAID-funded Evidence Project to conduct a landscape assessment of the feasibility of a Total Market Approach (TMA) in Uganda. This project also involved key informant interviews with stakeholders on their attitudes toward TMA principles and the collection of a Uganda Market Research Summary of existing family planning knowledge. The approach is based on an understanding that equitably meeting the diverse needs of different population segments requires increased coordination across sectors, including the public, private for-profit, and not-for-profit sectors. This is particularly important in the context of global commitments to increase access to family planning, including the FP2020 goal of reaching 120 million additional women by 2020

The AIDS Project News (July 1986)

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/aids_news/1001/thumbnail.jp

Expanding access to rights-based family planning: Activity brief

The human rights dimensions of family planning programs have been recognized for nearly half a century and affirmed in numerous declarations, conventions, and treaties endorsed by governments and the international community. While discourse about respecting, protecting, and fulfilling these rights is growing, a gap persists between human rights rhetoric and integrating rights in family planning policy, programs, and practice. Governments and programs struggle with defining and operationalizing a rights-based approach to family planning. Overall, there is scant evidence on: how to implement rights-based family planning (RBFP) programming, how to measure rights-based programming and outcomes, and the effect on family planning/reproductive health outcomes of implementing RBFP. Furthermore, literacy about human rights and family planning is generally low at the global, national, and subnational levels. Working with a range of stakeholders, the Evidence Project conducted several activities to address these gaps, and this activity brief outlines these activities: Defining RBFP and synthesizing resources; incorporating and operationalizing rights-based approaches in costed implementation plans; testing an index to measure adherence to RBFP; and defining rights-based indicators for family planning programming and monitoring