Oral

This session focuses on a range of partnerships that have formed to implement and assess reproductive health initiatives. One paper explores a partnership between the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the Nike Foundation that is designed to measure the impact of the foundation’s philanthropic efforts to empower girls in developing countries. The presentation focuses on the benefits and challenges of such partnerships. Another presentation discusses the impetus behind a foundation’s efforts to define success – for itself and its grantees – related to its work on promoting universal access to reproductive health care among young people. The paper describes the process of convening experts to build a consensus around a definition and indicators of success, and a resulting tool that will be of use to others. One presenter describes a process to change behavior related to female genital mutilation (FGM). Despite passage of a law in Egypt banning FGM, social pressure resulted in nearly universal adherence to the practice. The successful initiative included a partnership with physicians and religious in collaboration with other local partners and CEDPA. A fourth paper discusses partnerships in Romania that were formed to support the implementation of the National Family Planning Program. The presentation focuses on the successful partnerships among government, civil society and international agencies.

Session Objectives: • Describe various types of partnerships and appreciate the benefits and challenges of partnerships. • Analyze the politics of receiving funding from diverse sources. • Identify approaches to mobilize communities against RH issues.t • List key activities to build the capacity of local NGOs to conduct and monitor program activities and program outcomes. • Describe the process by which a small foundation encouraged key institutions to better define and measure success and how this strengthens foundations and programs/services. • Explore tools for assessing RH programs and services.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing