Archive for: Coastal Resources Center


In February 2010, the USAID-funded BALANCED Project sponsored a South-to-South learning opportunity for government and non-governmental officials to observe how local stakeholders in the Philippines implement integrated Population, Health and Environment (PHE) approaches. PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. (PFPI), a BALANCED Project partner, hosted ten developing country representatives from six African and Asian countries. They spent two weeks visiting PHE learning sites and a marine protected area in Bohol province. PFPI has been working for the past ten years on the Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management Initiative (IPOPCORM) and has a wealth of lessons learned and best practices to share with people who are new to PHE. Based on these lessons learned and program design discussions, the participants developed action plans for their respective organizations and countries, in order to implement PHE at home.

Year: 2010

Source: The BALANCED Project

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    This brief summarizes a study conducted in the Philippines by Pollnac and Dacanay in 2011, which assessed the benefits of the Integrated Population and Coastal Resource Management (IPOPCORM) project, an integrated population and environment (PE) project implemented by PATH Foundation Philippines Inc.(PFPI) in the Visayan region of the Philippines. In light of the growing interest in evidence to support the position that integrated projects create synergies and add value, the “Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development” (BALANCED) Project conducted research that tested this hypothesis. The study investigated what factors contributed most towards attaining benefits from an integrated PE approach. The authors found that the level of participation was a key determinant of benefits. Other significant factors in determining the degree of benefits included type of nongovernmental organization activities, context factors inherent to a community (e.g., population size and density), and individual characteristics of those who participated in the project.

    Year: 2011

    Source: The BALANCED Project

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      This manual was developed to train individuals to integrate community-based family planning and health into PHE projects through community-based distribution and peer education. The curriculum shows how community-based distributors (CBDs) and Peer Educators (PEs) can be trained to discuss basic ecology, PHE linkages, and reproductive health/family planning within a PHE context. The modules include international family planning norms and guidance on sexually-transmitted infections/diseases. This training was field-tested in Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia. It is best for: 1) training-of-trainers events where facilitators learn how to train PHE CBDs and PHE Adult PEs on community-based education and distribution of family planning methods within the context of an integrated PHE intervention; and 2) workshops where local trained facilitators train PHE CBDs and PHE Adult PEs who work on integrated PHE activities.

      Year: 2011

      Source: The BALANCED Project

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        This guide was adapted from the Youth Sexuality, Reproductive Health and Environmental Education: Training Manual for Youth Peer Educators developed by PATH Foundation Philippines Inc. (PFPI) under its Integrated Population and Coastal Resources Management (IPOPCORM) initiative and other resources. It incorporates international family planning norms and guidance on sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), including the Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (WHO 2004), Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers (WHO/RHR and JHU/CCP 2007), Contraceptive Technology (Hatcher et al. 2007), and Sexually Transmitted and Other Reproductive Tract Infections: A Guide to Essential Practice (WHO 2005).

        Year: 2011

        Source: The BALANCED Project

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          This training guide was developed to train population, health and environment (PHE) Community-based Distributors (CBDs) who work on integrated PHE activities. A PHE CBD is someone who is trained to provide information on PHE, family planning (FP) methods, and the stocking and sales of FP commodities. This training guide can be used to train new PHE CBDs over a two-day period. It contains 12 modules covering basic topics that PHE CBDs need to know to discuss basic ecology, PHE linkages, and reproductive health/family planning with community members within a PHE context. The modules are based on international norms and guidance as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This Guide is based on the publication “Population, Health and Environment (PHE) Community-based Distribution and Peer Education System: Train-the-Trainer Guide for Training PHE Community-based Distributors and PHE Adult Peer Educators,” which is geared for training master trainers who will, in turn, train PHE adult peer educators and PHE CBDs.

          Year: 2012

          Source: The BALANCED Project

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            This training guide was developed to train PHE Adult Peer Educators (PEs) who work on integrated PHE activities. This training guide contains 12 modules covering basic topics that PHE Adult Peer Educators need to know to discuss basic ecology, PHE linkages, and reproductive health/family planning with community members within a PHE context. This Guide is based on the BALANCED Project publication, “Population, Health and Environment (PHE) Community-based Distribution and Peer Education System: Train-the-Trainer Guide for Training PHE Community-based Distributors and PHE Adult Peer Educators.”

            Year: 2011

            Source: The BALANCED Project

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              This is the last issue of the USAID-funded Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development (BALANCED) Project newsletter. It provides an overview of the Project’s best practices and lessons learned from promoting and strengthening capacity among population, health and environment (PHE) champions and implementing organizations, strengthening the global PHE community of practice and adapting and scaling-up PHE approaches in Africa and Asia. BALANCED worked to expand the number of organizations and practitioners using the PHE approach, tools and methodologies in countries with significant biodiversity and population pressures. BALANCED also trained over 2,000 people from eight countries in Africa and Asia. The BALANCED workshops and substantial post-training support and mentoring led 21 organizations in eight countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Philippines) to incorporate PHE tools and protocols into their work. The Project also developed or adapted 21 tools, methodologies, guides, curricula, and technical reports.

              Year: 2013

              Source: The BALANCED Project

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                The Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development (BALANCED) Project developed this publication to provide field-based practitioners of PHE projects with a comprehensive set of ideas and resources for project implementation, from project design to evaluation. This Guide provides brief explanations and links to tools that are considered most useful to PHE practitioners in different stages of PHE project design and implementation. It draws on best practices and approaches used by nongovernmental organizations implementing PHE projects and the BALANCED Project’s experience developing and assisting other organizations to develop PHE projects in Africa and Asia.

                Year: 2013

                Source: The BALANCED Project

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                  This Guide was designed for facilitators/trainers who work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) implementing population, health and environment (PHE) activities to develop a behavior change communication (BCC) intervention that supports the achievement of the PHE project’s goals and objectives. It instructs the facilitator on how to train participants on the basic components of a BCC intervention. It also advises how to adapt these components for PHE projects that need integrated messages to raise community awareness of the PHE linkages of health and pro-conservation behaviors. This training is best suited for NGOs and/or government agencies with existing PHE or core health/conservation activities. It is ideal for individuals from organizations that have already participated in a workshop on PHE project design or in a PHE-related workshop in which they developed a PHE conceptual framework, PHE project goal, and objectives and activities.

                  Year: 2013

                  Source: The BALANCED Project

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                    This document summarizes the results of a baseline survey conducted in 40 randomly-selected villages in Bohol and the Verde Island Passage in central Philippines in 2011. The study was sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded “Building Actors and Leaders for Advancing Community Excellence in Development” (BALANCED) Project to inform future activities in the Philippines. The survey covers basic reproductive health, disease management, and livelihood and marine protection behaviors among men and women in vulnerable communities on the island of Bohol. The report then compares these Bohol behaviors to those of men and women in “new” sites in the Verde Island Passage. According to the survey analysis, households in coastal villages depend on the productivity of the marine environment for their livelihoods. The report also recommends increasing the amount and quality of public participation in project activities in order to maximize health and conservation outcomes.

                    Year: 2012

                    Source: The BALANCED Project

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