Leveraging and measuring: A small foundation partners with big players to define progress

Universal access to reproductive health. In 1994, those five words became the centerpiece of a global consensus document, agreed to by 179 countries at the International Conference on Population and Development. Since that time, much work has occurred to advance the goal of “universal access,” but there is no agreement, thirteen years later, on the specifics of measuring this goal.

The Summit Foundation learned this when it sought to define its programmatic goal of universal access by young people to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services. The Foundation discovered not only that there exists no consensus on the meaning of universal access, but also a dearth of efforts to define access for young people. The fact that data collection for young people's reproductive health is so poor has posed challenges to service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. Thus, a small foundation found itself at the forefront of an effort to lead the global reproductive health community to consensus about appropriate indicators to evaluate progress toward universal access for youth.

This presentation will discuss the impetus behind the Foundation's efforts to define success, both for itself and with its grantees. It will describe the process by which the Foundation brought experts from academia, NGOs and multilateral institutions to consensus around a definition of and indicators for measuring universal access by young people. Finally, it will present the results of this effort and provide a tool for participants to use in their own work.