The logic model provides specific and comprehensive guidance to improve data demand and use. It can be used to design, monitor and evaluate interventions, and to improve demand for, and use of, data in decision making. As more interventions are implemented to improve use of health data, those efforts need to be evaluated. Read More

Study Summary: Modeling Climate Change, Food Security, and Population Growth Read More

Study Summary: Modeling Food Security, Population Growth and Climate Change Read More

We developed a computer simulation model to help clarify the dynamic relationships between climate change, food security, and population growth. Read More

Social marketing in family planning programs makes contraceptive products accessible and affordable through private-sector outlets, such as pharmacies and shops, while using commercial marketing techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals. This eight-page brief describes the three main social marketing models (NGO model, manufacturer's model, and hybrid models) and outlines key considerations that social marketing programs should take into account to ensure success. Read More

Investing in Women and Girls Read More

Promoting Women's Health Read More

Ensure that all girls complete primary school, Keep girls in school longer, Discourage early marriage Read More

Protect Women and Girls from Violence, Discourage Early Marriage Read More

Promote Women’s Reproductive Health, Prioritise Girls’ Education, and Address Harmful Gender Norms Read More

A New Advocacy Tool Read More

A New Advocacy Tool for Women Leaders Read More

The Packard Foundation grant has enabled Futures Group and its in-country partners to strengthen family planning advocacy by showing the link between family planning (FP) and national and local priorities, such as women’s health and empowerment, food security, and girls’ education. Read More

Modeling the Impact of Family Planning and Other Women-Centered Interventions on Development Read More

This framework for monitoring and evaluating the repositioning of family planning services can ultimately be used by international donors, governments, and programs to assess their efforts, identify gaps in strategies to reposition family planning in countries, and to inform funding, program design, policy and advocacy, and program planning and improvement. Read More

This paper discusses the unique role of health data in strengthening the building blocks of health systems and defines specific interventions to strengthen the use of data in decision making. It also provides a framework for developing, monitoring, and evaluating interventions to improve the use of and demand for data. Read More

This document provides a synthesis of what is known about the drivers of HIV infection and an understanding of HIV prevention needs, opportunities, challenges and priorities – for South Africa in general and for the three provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga in particular. Read More

This volume is a summary of the various initiatives undertaken during the course of implementation of the Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS) project to foster, lead and manage the capacity building process to improve performance of health services. USAID hopes that this compilation will further inform state governments and institutions in their capacity building efforts. Read More

This documentation reviews the experiences, program successes, and lessons learned from two decades of Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS) Project implementation in UP. It is hoped that it will provide further insights for policy makers across India and other countries on implementing programs with innovative approaches to improve family planning and reproductive health of their populations. Read More

USAID hopes that models such as the Sambhav voucher schemes will serve as prototypes in the future to engage the private sector, ensure equity and accountability to those accessing services, and build on the existing systems for cost-effective and optimum service delivery and utilization. Read More

This report is an insight into the journey of the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) Plus program developed and demonstrated through a public private partnership approach involving local non-governmental organizations. It demonstrates how flexibility and senstivity to the local context can address region-specific challenges and provide solutions which are locally relevant. Read More

This document presents lessons learned, best practices and promising approaches of the BCC initiatives developed and delivered under IFPS-II. It seeks to provide a reference, along with insights and guidance, to policymakers, program planners, and implementers to contribute to achieving the goals of the country through improved health of women, children, families and communities. Read More

It is hoped that this documentation of the social franchising model will provide insights to policy makers and program planners on how innovative models can be developed in partnership between the public and private sector to increase and expand the reach of quality healthcare services. Read More

This document captures the details of USAID initiatives to promote adolescent reproductive health in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, India. USAID hopes that it will inform implementation of adolescent health initiatives in the country as well as internationally. Read More

This document captures the pilot implementation experience along with the best practices, lessons learned and recommendations and will serve as a guide for replicating mobile health van models to improve access to health care in other states and countries. Read More

This guide presents seven steps that help program managers and providers use existing health information to improve HIV/AIDS programs. The steps and examples can be used to strengthen programmatic decision making at the health facility and community levels. Read More

Report of the expert group meeting on Family Planning Costing. Experts at the workshop discussed how cost inputs vary depending on the intended audience or intended analytic use. Estimating the cost of any service is complex because there are many different inputs that can be costed to provide the service and there are often other services that may be offered at the same location. This is especially true in health care and even more so for family planning. So it is important to understand the purpose for a cost study and the users of such information. Read More

With funding from USAID and Packard Foundation, Futures Group has developed the new RAPID/Women Model to help link women-centered programs and family planning. Read More

Globally, the number of maternal deaths remains large, and the risk per birth is high in the developing world. Deaths declined between 1990 and 2008, despite the 42% increase in women. We decompose selected determinants to help explain the decline. Read More

This presentation discusses how future population growth in West Africa will affect key social and economic sectors and prospects for economic growth. It emphasizes that meeting unmet need for family planning would have a major effect on average family size and summarizes actions that elected representatives can take to support initiatives to slow population growth. Read More

There is a growing need for evidence-based and concrete information about the interrelationship between population and development by policymakers in many countries. This paper provides information on the contribution of population to the realization of Ethiopia’s vision of "extricating itself from poverty and becoming a middle-income economy". Read More

This paper estimates what the demographic impact of meeting this unmet need would be for the developing world and the United States, and compares this scenario with three United Nations fertility variants. The United Nations (UN) provides estimates of future fertility trajectories for the countries of the world through 2050. Read More

Good health policies and strategies are important, but not sufficient. They must be put into practice. Despite a growing body of literature on policy implementation, understanding how best to implement policies remains a challenge in real-world settings. The aim of this paper is to demystify "policy implementation" and provide user-friendly advice on how to translate policies into action. Read More

The purpose of this study was to enable the higher education sector to understand the threat posed by the epidemic to its core mandate. This was done through determining, at the institutional and sector level, the prevalence and distribution of HIV and associated risk factors among the staff and students at public, higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The results were used to conduct an assessment of the risks posed by the HIV epidemic to the sector and their respective populations and make recommendations to mitigate potential impacts. Read More

This policy brief provides a concise summary of key findings from three orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) program evaluations conducted in Tanzania. It examines the policy and programmatic implications of study results and offers recommendations for service providers and other decision-makers at the program and national levels. Details about individual studies can be found in each project’s published evaluations reports and case studies. Read More

Between September 1995 and June 2005, POLICY formed and/or strengthened over 100 networks and coalitions designed to advocate for improved FP/RH, adolescent reproductive health, maternal health, and HIV policies and programs. Networks were formed at national, regional, and district levels and involved a range of organizations, including NGOs, women’s and youth groups, people living with HIV, faith-based organizations, businesses, journalists, healthcare providers, human rights groups, public health researchers, and, in some cases, partnerships with government officials. Most of POLICY’s technical assistance to networks focused on policy analysis and advocacy training, provision of small grants to support network building and/or advocacy activities, and organizational capacity development. To guide its work with networks, POLICY produced Networking for Policy Change: An Advocacy Training Manual in 1999. The manual is a key training resource, available in major languages, and has been supplemented by topic-specific materials focusing on issues such as maternal health, contraceptive security, and adolescent reproductive health. The 11 case studies feature networks in Ghana, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Uganda, Ukraine, and Turkey. Read More

This report is about one strategy that will make the MDGs easier and more affordable for countries to meet. It shows how meeting unmet need for family planning can help countries achieve the MDGs by reducing the size of the target population groups for the MDGs and therefore lowering the costs of meeting the MDGs. A benefit-cost analysis was applied to 16 sub-Saharan African countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Read More

French Version Read More

Injectable contraceptives are popular among women, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Health officials and providers in a growing number of countries seek to make injectable contraceptives more widely available at the community level through trained paraprofessionals. Studies and field observations have found that community health workers (CHWs) can provide injectables safely and that community access to injectables attracts new contraceptive users. This guide is designed to assist the many health professionals and advocates who are interested in making injectable contraceptives more widely available, especially for women with little or no access to health facilities. It will also be useful to donors, family planning/reproductive health professionals, and others who may not be directly involved in advocacy but need to understand the process and the rationale for community access to injectable contraceptives. Read More

The USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, has designed the Policy Implementation Assessment Tool to assist government and civil society advocates to "take the pulse" of policies in their countries. With this information, stakeholders can better understand policy dynamics and identify recommendations for translating health policies into action. Through regular check-ups and renewed commitment, policies can keep on track toward achieving policy goals. This brief provides an overview of the forthcoming guide and final tool, which are available online. Read More

The AWARE II Assessment of Gaps in Policies, Policy Implementation and Programs for Key Populations in Burkina Faso was designed as an in-depth policy analysis of the legal, regulatory, and policy environment related to sex workers (SW), men who have sex with men (MSM), and prison populations in Burkina Faso to uncover gaps in policy and practical challenges to policy implementation. Read More

The region of West and Central Africa is the most populous on the continent, totaling 340 million people. Countries in the region suffer significant HIV epidemics, which require a continued and comprehensive response. However, a current plateau in funding for HIV is juxtaposed with increasing needs for coverage and imperatives due to the shifting nature of the epidemic. These pose great challenges for policymakers in the region. In this context, the importance of most at-risk populations (MARPs) for HIV has been mentioned repeatedly. Read More