November 14, 2016 to November 18, 2016
Announcement

Join APC at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research from November 14th - 18th, 2016.

April 18, 2016
Announcement

The Local Capacity Initiative (LCI) project officially launched the Policy Advocacy Strategic Plan in Bamenda, Cameroon on April 14, 2016.

Twelve-year-old Maijua Wa was admitted to the Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) for chronic burns from a gas explosion she had sustained five months earlier. In the past several months, Maijua has received intensive medical and wound care from LFHC.

October 20, 2016
General News

On August 4 and 5, 2016, Asia Development with Disabled Persons (ADDP) Japan organized a wheelchair basketball training and demonstration match under the USAID-funded World Education Laos (WEL) TEAM project.

Summary

Advancing Partners & Communities has been an active partner in the Community Health Workers (CHWs) policy revision process, offering ongoing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) of Sierra Leone.

One of the biggest challenges throughout the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was a lack of water and sanitation, which led to poor implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures at health facilities. In the post-Ebola context, as the country moves forward with its Health Sector Recovery Plan, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is a priority.

Infographic

Following the Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leone faces challenges to rebuilding its community health system. This infographic helps explain the challenges of delivering community maternal and child health services in a post-Ebola context.

Summary

In Sierra Leone, APC works through a grant from USAID’s “Ebola Response and Preparedness” funds to support the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) implement its 2015–2020 Health Sector Recovery Plan. The project’s goal is to strengthen community-based non-Ebola health services, with emphasis on reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH).

Fatmata, an MCH-aide assumed responsibility for a health post affected by Ebola in Sierra Leone, leaving behind her own community to help one with a greater need.

Brief

At the London Family Planning Summit in 2012, the Government of Uganda committed to providing universal access to family planning and reducing unmet need for family planning from the current 40 percent to 10 percent by 2022. To meet this ambitious goal, all potential means of increasing accessibility to family planning must be explored.

Pages

Photo credits: cover of report Kristen Devlin/JSI; USAID; Joshua Yospyn/JSI; Shahzad Noorani; Eidolon Films; Joshua Yospyn/JSI

Read the Advancing Partners & Communities Final Report

As APC comes to a close after seven years, we look back on how the project has improved the health and lives of countless people in thousands of communities in more than 40 countries.

More women and couples, especially those living in more conservative and hard-to-reach places, can now access a wide range of voluntary family planning methods. More patients know their HIV status and are getting the treatment they need. More survivors of Ebola virus disease are leading healthier lives with less stigma. More people who are vulnerable due to disability or live in challenging places now have access to rehabilitation, counseling, and health care.

Read the report » (PDF, 47 MB)

Our Mission

Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) advances and supports community programs that seek to improve the overall health of communities and achieve other health-related impacts, especially in relationship to family planning.

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Youth Dashboard

Interactive data dashboard on youth sexual and reproductive health in Asia and the Middle East.

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Community Health
Systems Catalog

A snapshot of community health systems in different countries.

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APC Grants & Grantees

Strengthening NGOs through APC's grant mechanism and capacity building assistance.

Meet our grantees »

Jump to Country Profiles

Our Impact

APC works to advance and support community programs that seek to improve the overall health of communities, especially in relationship to family planning (FP). Through global technical leadership and collaboration, APC’s goal is to increase support for and commitment to community-based family planning in USAID priority countries. APC aims to increase access to quality FP services, expand the contraceptive method mix, and improve upon organizations’ capability to manage USAID funds and implement high quality and innovative community-based health programs.

Map showing APC office locations and country presence

Search APC Resources

Healthy Families Thrive: Why Community Health Matters in the Journey to Self-Reliance - APC Final Report, December 2019
December 2019 | Report
From October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2019, the Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) project worked in more than 40 countries to improve the overall health of communities, with an emphasis on voluntary family planning. The project was implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) in collaboration with FHI 360. Over the past seven years, APC expanded from its initial focus on voluntary family planning to a broad array of community-based programs in four main health areas: CBFP, HIV and AIDS, post-Ebola recovery, and vulnerable populations, which include children in adversity, people with disabilities, and victims of war.
Advancing Family Planning in Last-Mile Communities: Voices of Experience
December 2019 | Report
Between 2012 and 2019, APC worked closely with a number of East African FBOs and CBOs to advance family planning in last-mile communities. Along with colleagues from these organizations and USAID, in September 2019 the project held a consultative workshop, “Voices of Experience,” to harvest the wisdom of individuals and groups working in this area and to inform new activities and possible funding going forward.
Developing and Strengthening the Disability and Rehabilitation Sector in Laos: Training Handbooks
December 2019 | Training Curriculum
The APC Laos TEAM offered trainings on Curriculum Development, Psychosocial Support, Training of Trainers (ToT), Project Cycle Management (PCM), and Gender Inclusion to all sub-recipients. These trainings are participatory, reflective and allow as much time as possible for ‘learning by doing’ and practical application of skills and knowledge. The participant handbooks below were used in eight trainings for TEAM sub-recipients.
Developing and Strengthening the Disability and Rehabilitation Sector in Laos
December 2019 | Assessment Tool
This Organizational Assessment template was used by the APC Laos TEAM for all applicants for TEAM funding to look at capacity in grants management, financial management, human resources, activity implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

Latest News

December 19, 2019
Watch the recording from APCs farewell webinar highlighting the project's critical work and legacy in community health in more than 40 countries over the past seven years (2012–2019).
September 30, 2019
Since 2012, the USAID-funded Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) project has worked in over 40 countries to improve community health systems and build the capacity of local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide basic health services, expand access to voluntary family planning, and connect people to health facilities.
July 24, 2019
View the recording of the webinar put on by APC grantee Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH) that talks about practical tools to inform communities in language they can understand of the variety of choices they have to time and space pregnancies. The webinar explored how you can use these tools in your community-based programs or develop your own for the areas where you work. They also looked at how to develop, test, and translate tools that work for communities, and explored an example of a training curriculum developed for Islamic leaders. These lessons are applicable not just for family planning, but for all community-based programs.

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Top photo credits (left to right): Puskar Khanal/JSI; Dominic Chavez/World Bank.