By Maryanne W. WAWERU
From 13 – 17 January, IPPF Africa Region Member Associations (MAs) implementing the Stand-Up to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) project gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the project’s annual planning meeting. The meeting was aimed at enabling the project teams from the implementing countries –Uganda and Mozambique, to jointly review implementation status, as well as develop a plan for the project’s 5th year.
Funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through Oxfam Canada (OCA), Stand-Up is a 6.5 year multi-stakeholder, multi-country initiative that contributes to the increased enjoyment of SRHR services by adolescent girls and young women (10-29 years), other women of reproductive age (30+ years), and men and boys, in strategically selected Mozambican and Ugandan districts.
IPPF MAs –Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) and Associação Moçambicana para Desenvolvimento da Família (AMODEFA) are responsible for the component of the project that aims to strengthen knowledge and capacity of service providers and healthcare facilities to improve the provision of comprehensive sexual reproductive health (SRH) information and services.
Ms. Sylvia Ekponimo, the Stand-Up Project Advisor said the forum was a great opportunity for the project teams to critically evaluate the status of the project.
“The meeting enabled us to take stock of our progress thus far. It provided a good setting for the exchange of best practices among project teams, identify implementation gaps, areas of improvement, address challenges, and offer recommendations. The teams collectively brainstormed on new approaches they will apply to ensure they achieve greater success for the project,” she said.
Stand-Up’s notable achievements
Between April - September 2024, the total number of SRH services provided through the Stand-Up project were 581,615. Notably, 59% of these services were provided to adolescents and youth aged between 10 – 24 years. These services provided included: sexual health counselling, maternal care services (including skilled antenatal, childbirth, and post-natal care), safe abortion and post-abortion care services, prevention, detection, and treatment of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and management services. Family planning services provided included 46,361 injectables, 22,677 pills, 10,655 implants and 1,461 intrauterine devices (IUDs). Additionally, 434,574 condoms were distributed during this time frame.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Gallianne Palayret, IPPF Africa Region’s Deputy Director lauded the project’s role in reaching marginalized populations in Uganda and Mozambique.
“Adolescents girls and young women (AGYW) are a vulnerable population when it comes to their sexual reproductive health. This situation is particularly dire for those in hard-to-reach areas, where access to quality SRHR information and services is often difficult. For the last four years, the Stand-Up project has been addressing this challenge by implementing strategic interventions that are tailored to meet the unique SRHR needs of adolescents, youth, and other underserved populations such as people with disability (PWD) and members of the LGBTQIA+ community,” she said.
While noting the achievements of the project, Ms. Palayret emphasized IPPF’s commitment to championing adolescent and youth SRHR in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Young people are at the centre of IPPF’s programmes. This is underscored in IPPF’s ‘Come Together’ Strategy, which is a comprehensive plan that outlines the organization’s commitment to supporting young people in realizing their SRHR. IPPF is dedicated to championing programs and initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa that are aimed at empowering adolescents and youth. This we achieve through our strong network of Member Associations and Collaborative Partners. We remain grateful to all our partners, including donors, governments and other stakeholders who work with us to achieve this goal,” she said.
The Cluster Model approach
The planning meeting served as a good cross-learning opportunity for participants, as expressed by Mr. Stelio Faiela, Stand-Up’s Project Coordinator at AMODEFA.
“It was a very insightful meeting, where we learnt a lot from our Ugandan counterparts. We were particularly impressed by their application of the Cluster Model* methodology compared to ours, which has significantly helped them to deliver results. The main learning for AMODEFA was RHU’s Cluster Model that strategically includes membership from the regional level, the district level, all the way to the grassroots level. Additionally, RHU carefully selects members of each cluster, where key stakeholders such as Ministry of Health officials, politicians, community leaders, PWDs, youth representatives and other notable influencers are incorporated. This strategy that has guaranteed broad acceptance of the project at all levels. The RHU Cluster Model approach offered good learning lessons for us, and we will be sure to emulate some elements of that good practice in our context,” he said.
AMODEFA’s remarkable mobile brigades
Similarly, the mobile brigade** strategy employed by AMODEFA made for a key learning lesson for the RHU team. AMODEFA conducts a monthly average of 40 mobile brigades in its intervention sites –commendable efforts that were lauded by RHU’s Stand-Up Coordinator, Dr. Simon Peter Lugoloobi.
“How our Mozambican colleagues conduct their mobile brigades is remarkable. What stands out for me is the way AMODEFA works with a strong network of local partners to achieve impressive results through their mobile brigades. Awareness creation, service provision, and referrals to health facilities are all undertaken in close collaboration with local partners. Every activity is carried out in seamless coordination with each partner, ensuring that thousands of adolescent girls and young women are reached with SRH information and services, including those in the most far-flung rural areas where access to health services is extremely challenging. AMODEFA’s mobile brigades have significantly addressed many of the barriers that AGYW face in accessing services, such as long distances to health facilities and lack of transport money,” Dr. Lugoloobi said.
Focus on ‘results-oriented’ implementation
The close of the workshop saw the team make various commitments geared towards heightened success of the project in the next implementation year.
“In Year 5, our mantra will be 'efficient and results-oriented implementation'. We plan to intensify our efforts to strengthen the cluster management teams and promote a more coordinated health system in the implementing districts. In particular, we will support the team in ensuring that the use of data for decision making is consistent and embedded. We believe that this will contribute to the project's objective of "increasing the capacity of health systems and institutions to provide quality, rights-based, gender-responsive, youth-friendly and comprehensive SRH information and services for adolescent girls and young women” said Ms. Ekponimo.
*Participatory and inclusive in nature, the Cluster Model is an integrated, comprehensive approach to fulfilling individuals’ SRHR and exponentially increasing access to family planning services, particularly for vulnerable populations.
**The provision of health services by trained service providers outside health facilities in order to reach people who may not normally have easy access to or are less likely to attend facility services.
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when
country
Uganda, Mozambique
region
Africa
Related Member Association
Reproductive Health Uganda, Associação Moçambicana para Desenvolvimento da Família