Archive for: Uganda

Integrating Human and Animal Health for Conservation and Development: Findings From a Program Evaluation in Southwest Uganda

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This report documents the process through which a Ugandan conservation organization, Conservation through Public Health (CTPH), successfully integrated interventions traditionally seen as from different “domains” or “sectors” for the dual purposes of (1) reducing threats to mountain gorillas and their habitat and (2) improving the well-being of local communities directly dependent upon the health of the former (for ecotourism and natural resource use). CTPH received guidance from JSI in integrating family planning (FP) services to a quality standard, and increasing awareness of and demand for services among rural communities. This report describes activities undertaken between Oct 2006 and December 2008 and key results. It ends with an assessment of the potential for replication to increase coverage around this important Ugandan and World Heritage conservation area. Also presented are some lessons learned applicable to other initiatives aimed at extending access to FP around remote, biodiversity-priority areas and conserving the world’s biological richness.

Year: 2010

Source: John Snow, Inc. | Conservation Through Public Health | Evaluation and Research Technologies for Health

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    Conservation

    Economic Development

    Family Planning

    Integration

    Population

    Wildlife

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    Integrating Family Planning Into Other Development Sectors

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    Evidence confirms that family planning contributes to broad development goals of poverty reduction, enhanced education, environmental sustainability, and gender equality, but improving access to contraception has largely remained an effort contained within the health sector. While development programs outside the health sector increasingly recognize the connections between improving family planning and reaching their own goals, more evidence is needed on whether and how such efforts can work, and what types of models might be replicated and scaled up.

    The FHI 360 PROGRESS project (2008-2013) added to the evidence base on multi-sector integration, providing guidance on how development organizations can successfully expand their program model to include family planning services. Among these was the Green Belt Movement (Kenya) and Conservation Through Public Health (Uganda). Working closely with partners, PROGRESS developed, implemented, and evaluated interventions, and then synthesized lessons learned and packaged materials for use in replicating and scaling up these interventions.

    Year: 2013

    Source: FHI 360 | Progress Project

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      Family Planning

      Integration

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      HoPE-LVB Project Evaluation Webinar

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      Pathfinder International and partners in Kenya and Uganda have implemented the Health of the People and Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project since 2011. The project aims to scale up its use of the population, health, and environment (PHE) community-development model at local, national, and regional levels by integrating PHE considerations in formal government development planning and policies. “PHE” refers to the PHE approach, which aspires to increase access to comprehensive reproductive health services and improve maternal and child health care practices while simultaneously improving natural resource management in project communities.

      On April 30th, 2019, HoPE-LVB project implementers and evaluators discussed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) evaluation report on the model’s effectiveness and scalability. Released in April 2018, the USAID report addresses three key questions:

      • What are stakeholders’ perceptions of the HoPE-LVB project model’s added value to family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, livelihoods, governance, natural resources management, or conservation?
      • Has the HoPE-LVB project’s explicit focus on systematic planning for scale-up resulted in positive outcomes for the model’s institutionalization, sustainability, and expansion?
      • To what extent did the HoPE-LVB project achieve its objectives as measured by its key performance indicators/results?

      The evaluation of HoPE-LVB had been long anticipated, as the project was supported by cross-sectoral investments by multiple donors and represents a pioneering East African PHE project implemented at scale.

      The webinar, scheduled at 9:00 a.m. EST on April 30, 2019, was hosted by the PACE (Policy, Advocacy, and Communication Enhanced for Population and Reproductive Health) project. It included the following speakers:

      • Clive Mutunga of USAID provided introductory remarks on USAID’s support for PHE models globally and what USAID learned from the evaluation of HoPE-LVB.
      • Eileen Mokaya of Pathfinder International provided an overview of the HoPE-LVB project.
      • Richard Kibombo of Global Health Program Cycle Improvement Project (GH Pro) shared the evaluation’s results and his suggested next steps for PHE sustainability and scale-up.

      Year: 2019

      Source: Pathfinder International | Population Reference Bureau

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        Community Health

        Conservation

        Family Planning

        Integration

        Monitoring & Evaluation

        Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

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        HOPE-LVB Model Households: Serving as Role Models and Teachers in Their Communities

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        Model households are a key aspect of Health of People and Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB), an integrated Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) project with sites in Kenya and Uganda. Model households are trained in multiple project activities to illustrate behaviors that allow families to thrive without taking a toll on their environment and natural resources. Model households exhibit positive behaviors, including practicing sustainable agriculture and resource planning, adopting alternative livelihoods, prioritizing reproductive health and family planning, and investing in clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing.

        Year: 2016

        Source: Pathfinder International

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          Advocacy

          Conservation

          Family Planning

          Integration

          Population

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          HOPE-LVB Gender Equality: At the Center of Health, Rights, and Sustainability

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          A successful population, health, and environment (PHE) project requires the full and equal participation of women and girls and men and boys. In order to address the urgent, interconnected challenges in the Lake Victoria Basin—poor maternal and child health, a lack of access to contraception, dwindling fish supply, deforestation, and more—interventions must also work towards gender equality. Women must be able to exercise their right to sexual and reproductive health care services, including their ability to choose if or when to have children. They must be able to participate in income-generating activities, which improve their economic situation and better equip them to protect their families and the natural resources they depend on. The Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project works to promote gender equality. HoPE-LVB implements a range of activities, including training women’s and young mother’s groups on integrated health and conservation practices and conducting community dialogue sessions surrounding the intersection between gender, sexual and reproductive health, and the environment to bridge gender divides and encourage input and support from all community members.

          Year: 2014

          Source: Pathfinder International

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            Conservation

            Gender

            Integration

            Maternal and Child Health

            Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

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            HOPE-LVB Energy Efficient Stoves: Showing Promise for the Health of Women and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin

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            The overall goal of the The Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) Project is to reduce threats to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem degradation in the lake basin, while simultaneously increasing access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health to improve maternal and child health in project communities. This brief describes how the energy-efficient stove campaign exemplifies the power of this integration and the HoPE-LVB project.

            Year: 2016

            Source: Pathfinder International

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              Integration

              Women's Empowerment

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              HOPE-LVB Beach Management Units: Bringing Fishing and Planning for Families Together in the Basin

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              The Health of People and Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project seeks to reduce threats to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem degradation in the LVB while simultaneously increasing access to family planning and reproductive health services, in order to improve maternal and child health in Kenya and Uganda. This brief discusses how HoPE-LVB builds the capacity of Beach Management Units (BMUs) to take collective responsibility to actively protect and restore fish stocks, their habitat, and the entire ecosystem they depend on. This goes hand-in-hand with harvest management— establishing who, when, and where to fish, as well as tracking and documenting the fish catches.

              Year: 2016

              Source: Pathfinder International

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                Community Outreach

                Conservation

                Integration

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                HOPE-LVB Advocacy: Building Support for the Integrated Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) Approach

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                This brief discusses the importance of advocacy at multiple scales to build policymaker support for the Health of People and the Environment in the Lake Victoria Basin (HoPE-LVB) project. Staff and partners have engaged key district, national, and regional health and environment officials in Kenya and Uganda. The project goals are to: (1) increase stakeholders’ understanding of the interconnectedness of PHE issues and the benefits of the PHE approach; (2) increase the key stakeholders’ capacity to communicate about the PHE approach; and (3) provide platforms for policy dialogue to influence regional and national stakeholders to integrate PHE into their programs.

                Year: 2016

                Source: Pathfinder International

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                  Advocacy

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                  Health of People and the Environment: Lake Victoria Basin Project Baseline Study: Synthesis Report

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                  This is a report of the baseline data for the Health of People and Environment-LVB (HoPE-LVB) Project, led by Pathfinder International. The Project aims to provide underserved families and communities with knowledge and skills to improve reproductive health, reduce levels of poverty through livelihoods, and sustainably manage local natural resources. The survey found that community knowledge levels were high but practice levels were low for sectoral outcomes. Engagement in community groups was high, suggesting opportunities to implement value-added population, health, and environment (PHE) activities. The policy review found that policies encourage PHE integration, but lack structures to facilitate implementation across sectors. The participatory rural assessment yielded information on the potential ‘value-added’ that HoPE-LVB can generate, identifying increased income and access to quality health services as key priorities for the project and noting key challenges to uptake of positive health and conservation practices.

                  Year: 2013

                  Source: Pathfinder International

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                    Integration

                    Monitoring & Evaluation

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                    Gender and Resilience: From Theory to Practice

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                    This paper synthesizes four case studies from Uganda, Myanmar, Sudan/Chad, and Burkina Faso, documenting strategies towards building gender equality through resilience projects. The purpose is to document how gender inequalities manifest themselves in all four locations; how gender is conceptualised in theories of change (ToCs); the operationalisation of objectives to tackle gender inequalities; internal and external obstacles to the implementation of gender-sensitive activities; and drivers that help NGOs transform gender relations and build resilience. The case studies describe how disasters and climate change affect gender groups and underscore the patriarchal social norms that disproportionately restrict women and girls’ equal access to rights and resources. This paper aims to demonstrate how to draw on promising practices to make resilience projects inclusive and equitable. It also recommends areas where further research could increase understanding of resilience to climate extremes and longer-term changes, and suggests how donors and funding can best support efforts to build communities’ resilience.

                    Year: 2016

                    Source: The BRACED Project

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                      Adaptation

                      Climate Change

                      Gender

                      Natural Disasters

                      Project Design

                      Resilience

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