Insights

In Ethiopia, NPI EXPAND is investing in local partners to undertake social accountability interventions toward more responsive and higher quality family planning and maternal, newborn, and child health services. Local partners will focus on social accountability within the health system by building on existing tools and structures, e.g., community score cards and Health Development Armies, and experimenting with new models. In 2021, as a foundation for its work in Ethiopia, NPI EXPAND engaged a local research firm to conduct a landscape assessment of social accountability intervention models, local organizations, and community structures in geographic areas of intervention. Based on this work, NPI EXPAND is working to select highly capable local partners for grants and capacity strengthening support. The project’s partners will implement interventions in Amhara, Sidama, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, and Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ Region.

On March 9th through 11th, 2022, NPI EXPAND Ethiopia hosted a three-day co-creation workshop in Addis Ababa in collaboration with the USAID Ethiopia Mission, bringing together Federal Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus, prospective civil society organizations (CSOs), and relevant stakeholders. In total, 37 participants from these groups attended the workshop.

The workshop’s objectives were:

• Elicit inputs from prospective grantees, government officials, and other key stakeholders on the project’s direction and approaches;
• Facilitate an exchange on social accountability strategies, tools, experiences, and gaps to inform project design;
• Foster a shared understanding of approaches, priorities, and gaps in family planning and maternal, newborn and child health services specific to the Ethiopian context;
• Guide prospective grantees to align with USAID Ethiopia’s strategic plan “Empowered Communities for Better Health,” the revised USAID strategy to engage and empower local communities in the national health system;
• Engage with government officials and CBOs on incorporating the national Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP) and its strategies into project design;
• Familiarize potential grantees with NPI EXPAND policies, procedures, and operations related to grant making and management.

The workshop activities included participatory group exercises, plenary discussions, panel discussions, and presentations. It also included sessions focusing on gender programmatic approaches and integration in FP/MNCH programs.
The co-creation workshop precedes the release of a request for applications (RFA) by NPI EXPAND to request full grant proposals from prospective CSOs. With the support and cooperation of USAID as well as the Ethiopia Ministry of Health and regional health bureaus, NPI EXPAND hopes to have grants in place with local partners by June 2022.