Featured Projects

USAID | Health Policy Initiative

Establishing a strong policy foundation is essential for the effective scale-up of services to achieve the goals envisioned by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). With funding from USAID and the Emergency Plan, the Health Policy Initiative (2005–2010) strives to foster an improved enabling environment for health—especially HIV, family planning/reproductive health, and maternal health programs. The Health Policy Initiative builds on the legacy of the USAID-funded POLICY Project, which assisted government and civil society partners in policy advocacy and formulation in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia and the Near East, Europe and Eurasia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

With a focus on policy dialogue, the Health Policy Initiative empowers new partners to participate in the policymaking process. With an additional focus on policy implementation, the initiative helps countries and organizations translate policies, strategic plans, and operational guidelines into effective programs and services, especially for the poor and other underserved groups.

The Health Policy Initiative offers technical assistance in five strategic focus areas:

• Policies: assisting countries to adopt and put into practice policies that improve equitable and affordable access to high-quality HIV prevention, treatment, and care services.
• People: strengthening the capacity of people from the public sector (e.g., national leaders, ministry staff, district officials, public health professionals) and new partners/civil society (e.g., faith-based organizations, women's groups, businesses, networks of people living with HIV) to assume leadership roles in the HIV response, including combating stigma, discrimination, and gender inequality.
• Resources: enhancing efficient and equitable allocation of resources of various types (e.g., human, financial) and from different sectors (e.g., public, private, civil society, in-country, international donors).
• Coordination: facilitating multisectoral engagement and in-country coordination in the design, implementation, and monitoring of HIV programs to maximize results and avoid duplication of effort.
• Knowledge: building in-country capacity to collect, analyze, and use data for evidence-based decisionmaking, identification of best practices, and monitoring of program results.

To learn more about the Health Policy Initiative, please visit the website at www.healthpolicyinitiative.com.

The Health Policy Initiative is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by Constella Futures, in collaboration with the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA), and World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP).