Publications

This report reflects the findings and recommendations of a three-year impact assessment gauging the effectiveness of the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program’s social and labor requirements.

Churches can no longer ignore the growing challenges caused by unsustainable population growth on the continent. Unless the church starts addressing the issue of population and development urgently and adequately, it will not be able to offer transformative guidance to its followers on the continent. This case study presents the way in which the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has raised this potential by encouraging their members to think about it and develop their own context-specific approaches.

For several years, the faith community has intensively worked with other civil society members in the East African region to advocate for and mobilise support for the SRHR Bill of the East Africa Community. Faith to Action Network facilitated faith leadership and faith community interactions with the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), in order to expand the Bill’s coverage and address the contentious issues. This case study documents the history of the Bill, and the advocacy strategies and actions that aimed to get the EAC SRHR Bill re‐tabled and adopted.

Partnership is a cornerstone in achieving civil society goals and impact. Mobilising the right and complementary partners results in better use of resources, harnessing of expertise, increased confidence and more progress towards ensuring that women and girls can realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights, amongst others by accessing information, health and services. This paper explores the experience of the State of the African Woman campaign on civil society mobilisation and organising at national, continental and international levels, to influence ICPD+25 Review process and related decision-making processes.

This case illustrates the complex interlinkages between child marriage, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the underlying gender inequality that contributes to sustaining harmful practices and women and girls’ exposure to poor health, discrimination, social stigma, and exclusion.

Armed with the barrel of the pen, journalists can change the world! This has been proven true for a vibrant network of journalists from across the continent who passionately report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues. After years of engagement with these journalists, the coverage of SRHR issues continues to increase reaching an even wider audience.

Launched in 2018, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and the African Union co-lead a continental campaign to end new HIV infections in children and to keep mothers alive, called Free to Shine Campaign. This case study describes the process of advocacy and concerted effort that lead to the development of the campaign and its acceptance and adoption by stakeholders and communities at the continental, national and local levels.

The main objective of the State of African Women (SoAW) campaign is to contribute to securing, realizing and extending women’s rights enshrined in African Union (AU) policies in African countries. This synthesis brief reflects on the strategies pursued by this campaign to safeguard gains made and to advance progress in women and girls’ rights in SRHR.

The main objective of the State of African Women (SoAW) campaign is to contribute to securing, realizing and extending women’s rights enshrined in African Union (AU) policies in African countries. This second synthesis brief (read the first one here) reflects on the strategies pursued by this campaign to advance women and girls’ rights through coalition-building and advocacy for legal and social norms change and better implementation of policy commitments at multiple levels.

This report presents a collection of six case studies and two synthesis briefs that are the outcomes of the ‘action learning trajectory’ of the SoAW campaign. The case studies are prepared by the partners of the coalition: IPPF Africa Region, YWCA Kenya, Faith to Action Network and OAFLAD. Each case study documents and reflects on a specific piece of advocacy work carried out in the campaign. The case studies form the basis of two synthesis briefs: one on ‘Progressing on the unfinished business’, and another one on ‘Coalition-building and multilevel connections’. Both synthesis briefs seek to pull out strategies and joint learning across the diverse advocacy processes that are presented in the six case studies.

This study explores how district-level health system decision-making is shaped by power dynamics in different decentralised contexts in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda.

The World Health Organization recommends postnatal home visits to improve maternal and newborn health, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of postnatal home visits effectiveness in humanitarian settings.

Agricultural production frequently competes with forest conservation. The issue is particularly significant in developing countries where economic pressures frequently drive projects oriented at short-term economic gains at the expense of deforestation and long-term sustainable development. This working paper offers a review of business models combining agriculture with conservation objectives and portrays two illustrative case studies from the cocoa and coffee value chains.

To improve the delivery of health interventions, people-centred approaches are needed, both to ensure that interventions are accessible and address health care needs appropriately. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that the feedback of patients and community members can improve programmatic activities and lead to the more equitable and comprehensive distribution of programme interventions.

This learning brief looks at the pilots of several Beneficiary Feedback Mechanisms across countries in the Ascend project.

The priority-setting process in the context of the Health Pooled Fund (HPF) is challenged by data limitations, minimal stewardship of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and competing interests among donors, HPF management, MoH, local authorities and implementing partners.

Financial Service Providers are increasingly realising that needs and preferences differ across the female economy. Differences vary depending on women’s age, class, ethnicity, marital status, religion, wealth, stage of business, profession, location and other socially defined characteristics and markers. These factors all influence and impact the way different women use and receive financial services.

To improve the delivery of health interventions people-centred approaches are needed, both to ensure that interventions are accessible and address health care needs appropriately. Feedback of patients and community members can be used to improve programmatic activities and lead to the more equitable and comprehensive distribution of the programme interventions. Beneficiary Feedback Mechanisms provide a means of recording, evaluating and addressing beneficiaries’ perspectives into health care delivery.