Archive for: Integration


Much has been written on the history of and factors affecting environment sector successes and challenges in Madagascar. This case study focuses specifically on how the conservation sector has engaged in identifying and addressing unmet need for family planning (FP) in Madagascar over approximately two decades (1988 –2007), in the context of improving local livelihoods and reducing pressures on the country’s dwindling natural resource base including its unique biodiversity. It looks at how previous andongoing efforts linking or integrating population and environment (PE) efforts have been and are being scaled up past the site level. The purpose of this study is to highlight drivers of change, constraints and enabling factors to help explain the history and to identify strategies that may be replicable or newly applied elsewhere in-country or outside. This case study is designed to help answer the question: How can the conservation community further contribute to meeting unmet need for family planning in order to reduce future pressure on natural resources and biodiversity and promote more sustainable livelihoods?

Year: 2008

Source: World Wildlife Fund

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    From the 1980s-1990s the Philippine Government, with help from the United Nations and the academic community, created poverty alleviation projects that linked Population, Health, and Environment (PHE). These PHE projects focused on improving natural resource management, reproductive health services, enhancing food security, and providing Filipinos with more livelihood options. These integrated projects proved to be successful, creating a desire to spread or “scale-up” the PHE approach. Scaling-up has three components: expansion, replication, and collaboration. This report notes several opportunities for scaling-up, such as reaching out to new locations and people, extending pilot projects to policies at local and national levels, and expanding services to current clients. Another key factor for scaling-up the PHE approach is strengthening the national PHE network. A recap of lessons that have been learned through scaling-up is also included.

    Year: 2008

    Source: World Wildlife Fund | Population Reference Bureau

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      Across the globe, locally controlled forestry is gaining momentum, increasingly recognised for improving environmental resource management and bringing socio-economic returns to local communities. In short: it works for both people and forests. Since the 1990s, Tanzania has pioneered locally controlled forestry (also known as African participatory forest management). Supported by donors and NGOs, the government has transferred management of more than 2.5 million hectares of forest and woodland to local communities, restoring forests and improving environmental services. But converting and scaling up this transfer of natural capital into long-term economic benefits for communities remains a challenge. We present three emerging sustainable community forest enterprises that have delivered important social, economic and conservation benefits, and explore options for scaling up these approaches across Tanzania and elsewhere.

      Year: 2019

      Source: International Institute for Environment and Development

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        The Packard Foundation’s Population-Environment (PE) Initiative, which began in June 2000, placed primary emphasis on supporting projects that integrated conservation and family planning in communities near areas of high biodiversity. It supported leadership development and increased advocacy for and awareness of population-environment linkages. The PE strategy sought to improve the quality of life in focal areas, increase collaboration and leadership on interdisciplinary topics, and used mass media and targeted campaigns to increase the public and policymakers’ awareness of the links and solutions. The review team finalized a report to the Packard Foundation in June, 2005 that covers the three objectives of the Packard Foundation Population-Initiative. This report to USAID provides a more limited assessment of the success of the Packard and USAID-funded field projects with a particular focus on six USAID-funded projects in the Philippines and Madagascar, three of which are co-funded with Packard.
        This 2005 project review concentrates on three major questions:
        1. What are the likely long-term impacts of this Initiative on funding and the field of Population-Environment?
        2. What results have been achieved by projects implemented under the Initiative? and
        3. What lessons have been learned that may be of broader use to the Foundation, other donors, and the field as a result of implementing this Initiative?

        Year: 2005

        Source: United States Agency for International Development | The David and Lucille Packard Foundation

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          For the many individuals and communities experiencing natural disasters and environmental degradation, building resilience means becoming more proficient at anticipating, preventing, recovering, and rebuilding following negative shocks and stresses. Development practitioners have been working to build this proficiency in vulnerable communities around the world for several decades. This article first examines the meaning of resilience as a component of responding to disasters and some of the key components of building resilience. It then summarises approaches to resilience developed by the Rockefeller and Packard Foundations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, USAID and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), which show how family planning services can contribute to resilience. Next, it gives some examples of how family planning has been integrated into some current environment and development programmes. Finally, it describes how these integrated programmes have succeeded in helping communities to diversify livelihoods, bolster community engagement and resilience, build new governance structures, and position women as agents of change.

          Year: 2014

          Source: Reproductive Health Matters

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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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              Population-Health-Environment (PHE) is an interdisciplinary model of programme design which recognises the complex interconnections between people, their health and their environment. PHE responds holistically to the challenges faced by ecosystems and the communities dependent on them, with thematically distinct but interconnected work strands sharing the same infrastructure, resources and goals. This has been shown to achieve better outcomes than tackling health and environmental issues in isolation. This paper shows how PHE programme design has been used by Blue Ventures for providing family planning services in a remote, biodiverse coastal region in southwest Madagascar. The PHE programme has integrated family planning services into a pre-existing, community-based conservation programme, aided by the established infrastructure and good community relations developed by the conservation workers. Implementation of the programme has led to a strong uptake of family planning services, and couples in the region are now able to make their own family planning choices. Successes and challenges of the programme are discussed.

              Year: 2014

              Source: Reproductive Health Matters

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                This article suggests that sexual and reproductive health and rights activists seeking to influence the post-2015 international development paradigm must work with sustainable development advocates concerned with a range of issues, including climate change, environmental issues, and food and water security, and that a way of building bridges with these communities is to demonstrate how sexual and reproductive health and rights are relevant for these issues. An understanding of population dynamics, including urbanization and migration, as well as population growth, can help to clarify these links. This article therefore suggests that whether or not sexual and reproductive health and rights activists can overcome resistance to discussing “population”, become more knowledgeable about other sustainable development issues, and work with others in those fields to advance the global sustainable development agenda are crucial questions for the coming months. The article also contends that it is possible to care about population dynamics (including ageing and problems faced by countries with a high proportion of young people) and care about human rights at the same time. It expresses concern that, if sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates do not participate in the population dynamics discourse, the field will be left free for those for whom respecting and protecting rights may be less of a priority.

                Year: 2014

                Source: Reproductive Health Matters

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                  This report was commissioned to address the question of what works and what doesn’t work to make PHE programs successful – the most successful being those with the potential for scale or expansion. Findings were derived from document reviews, web searches and interviews with members of the PHE practice community. The report aims to reveal how PHE has evolved to fill an important gap, i.e., a tested approach to working cross-sectorally that achieves results in multiple domains. Its evolution has been both directed and natural. Direction, and ballast, has come from core funders and a group within the community of practice. “Ground-truthing” has come from the vast array of other practitioners. Integration is not easy but with time, resources and skill, it can be successfully achieved under a variety of conditions. Key factors facilitating success are described within. Under select conditions, the approach can work at scale. What scale is most relevant depends on the conservation goal and human/environment interactions.

                  Year: 2013

                  Source: Evaluation and Research Technologies for Health

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                    The population, health, environment (PHE) approach to development recognizes the interconnectedness between people and their environment and supports integration and coordination. In November 2007 a PHE Conference was held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to promote and enhance PHE approaches. This informative program provides descriptions and objectives on the sessions held, and a list of attendees and session moderators.

                    Year: 2007

                    Source: Population Reference Bureau

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