April 18, 2016
Blog

The Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) Project tested whether it was possible to use human-centered design (HCD) to bridge the gap between policy-making and implementation in Tanzania. HCD, originally used in private-sector applications, is gaining traction in global health as a way to stimulate problem-solving for social issues.

Brief

In February 2015 APC, implemented by FHI 360 in Uganda, conducted a collaborative site assessment for CBFP programs with the MOH in the three pilot sites, Bulumbi, Buhehe and Buteba. The assessment identified areas for service delivery improvement, which were quantified by the QI monitoring that started in June 2015.

A former worker of the Ghana Railways Authority, Angelina Tormeti is now a HealthKeeper who supports her family by selling family planning and other health products.

Mrs. Patience Gyasi is a licensed chemical seller at the LA Dadekotopon District, in the Greater Accra Region. For the past 25 years, she has devoted her life to providing health care, including family planning services to her community.

Diana Bona, a public health nurse and the regional focal person for adolescent health in the Greater Accra region, is committed to increasing access to adolescent health education in schools within her region.

Bernard Tetteh is a 45 year old station guard and transport service operator in Anloga, in the Volta Region. As a station guard, he takes the opportunity to educate people on reproductive health issues.

Stella Nyarko became a HealthKeeper through a women’s association. She now provides communities with family planning information and health protection products.

Madam Fanny Stafford is the patron of the Young Peer Educators Club established by the HealthKeepers Network (HKN), a non-governmental organization based in Accra.

As a peer educator with the HealthKeepers Network (HKN), Beatrice Ghartey receives training in many areas including adolescent reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, prevention of teenage pregnancy, sexual abstinence and youth friendly services.

April 03, 2016 to April 09, 2016
Event

World Health Worker Week is an opportunity to mobilize communities, partners, and policy makers in support of community health workers globally. Join us in celebrating health workers that work through our many grantees working to transform health systems in communities around the world.

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.

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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.