Pathfinder International shared the following update on progress in achieving its FP2020 commitments:
- Pathfinder International has also raised about $1.4 million in private funds since the London Summit to increase our support to the Tuungane project, a joint project with the Nature Conservancy and Frankfurt Zoological Society in Tanzania. This project couples family planning activities with environmental protection activities in the Lake Tanganyika basin to ensure communities’ sustainability in ecologically fragile zones.
- By the end of 2014, Pathfinder had exceeded its initial pledge, increasing financial support for family planning to US $172 million in existing program countries and two new countries: Bangladesh and Haiti.
- Started in 2012, Pathfinder’s privately sourced West Africa Pathfinding Initiative has built a vibrant program in three countries in the region that has far surpassed the target we committed to in 2012. An initial investment of $1.2 million from internal resources to create a program focused on the family planning needs of young married couples in Francophone West Africa has led to directly funded activities in Guinea and Burkina Faso through local partners, and has generated an $8 million, Gates Foundation funded project in Niger focused on delivering family planning services to remote populations. As the average age of marriage is 15 in Niger, a major priority of the project is working with communities to change behavior on early marriage.
While not a comprehensive list, the following examples demonstrate Pathfinder International’s commitment to advocating for the removal of policy and regulatory barriers which limit access to family planning:
- Pathfinder Nigeria organized a high-level meeting with advocacy partners to advocate for the more aggressive promotion of under-used contraceptive methods, namely implants, emergency contraceptive pills and female condoms (listed among the UN-designated 13 Life-Saving Commodities for women and children’s health). The ministry has as of late 2014, approved for emergency contraception to be procured for public health facilities, but we are now pushing for the first government procurement of emergency contraceptive pills to make sure policy results in action. Working with other partners and over many years, Pathfinder was also able to contribute to the policy change around task-sharing for injectables and implants—now community health extension workers can provide these methods and we are supporting the training and rollout in several states.
- Pathfinder Mozambique also advocated successfully with the Ministry of Health for the inclusion of emergency contraception pills (ECP) as a commodity to be procured, and for the first time, ECP was procured by UNFPA at the request of the Ministry of Health.
- Pathfinder Angola successfully advocated with the government for increased attention to the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth, and provided assistance to develop the Adolescent Health Strategy and Angola’s first National Family Planning Strategy.
- Pathfinder South Africa is a leader and active participant in the National Steering Committee for Adolescent and Youth Friendly Services. The Steering Committee has been advocating for the prioritization of youth programs in South Africa through allocation of budgets and resources at district levels for youth programs. As a result of the Steering Committee’s advocacy, a Ministerial Committee has formed to review the status of youth programs in South Africa and address gaps in policy and implementation.
