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Poverty Alleviation - Constella's Strategies that Help Empower the Poor

March 20—Reducing poverty has always been an underlying objective of international development programs. The US State Department recently released a new Foreign Assistance Framework (PDF) that prominently features poverty alleviation, placing widespread poverty reduction as a top priority for the US Government’s international diplomacy agenda. With increased efforts and resources aimed at improving access to essential health services for the poor in less developed countries, Constella Futures is in a prime position to carry out the Foreign Assistance Framework’s goal.

As part of the USAID | Health Policy Initiative (HPI) project, Constella Futures has established a Poverty and Equity Working Group to construct a strategic response to poverty that defines and reacts to the issues that affect the provision of services to the poorest segments of the population.

"Poverty alleviation should be a fundamental goal of every development project," said Suneeta Sharma, Team Leader, Family Planning and Reproductive Health (FP/RH), and a member of the Poverty and Equity Working Group. "Constella Futures is already working on a number of projects that incorporate poverty and equity issues, including HPI, MEASURE Evaluation, and the Innovations in Family Planning Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) in India."

"The group is developing a Poverty Equity Framework that offers best practice ideas for responding to poverty-related issues in any project," continued Suneeta. "The framework includes five key strategies, which tie into the identified intermediate results of the HPI project."

The key strategies are as follows:

• Adopt and Implement Policies that Improve Equitable and Affordable Access
• Strengthen Champions and Leadership
• Increase Resources and Equitable Allocation of Resources
• Strengthen Multisectoral Engagement
• Encourage Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Importantly, the strategies reach beyond traditional poverty alleviation measures and set the standard for planning and implementing all programs that consider and respect the views and needs of the world’s poorest people.

Constella Futures’ activities that address poverty and equity in relation to the above strategies include:

Adopt and Implement Policies that Improve Equitable and Affordable Access

In Guatemala, the HPI team is assisting the Ministry of Health to develop a policy response for reaching poor indigenous populations with critical FP/RH services. HPI conducted a study to identify barriers in accessing FP/RH services among poor indigenous communities. The findings revealed that the main barriers include traditional and cultural gender roles and the experience of stigma and discrimination within health facilities. In response, the HPI team is working to build the capacity of indigenous people, NGOs, the Ministry of Health, and other central stakeholders to advocate for and to develop and implement an effective policy response that addresses access barriers and ensures the needs of indigenous populations are considered in FP/RH policies and programs.

Strengthen Champions and Leadership

Through the HPI project, Constella Futures is supporting the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) to improve policy by ensuring that the poor and marginalized are actively involved in advocacy, policy dialogue, programming, and implementation. CEDPA is building the capacity of local leaders to influence policymaking and implementation and to increase the engagement of marginalized groups in shaping policy. In bringing these two elements together, HPI will support leadership development by and for the poor, women, and marginalized groups by increasing the number and types of leaders and adding mentoring strategies to build their capacity in moving policies to action. Through a mentorship program, the project will provide leaders with up-to-date information, state-of-the-art training, and other opportunities for strengthening their skills as change agents.

Increase Resources and Equitable Allocation of Resources

In India, ITAP is striving to increase resources and access to FP/RH and maternal health services through implementing a voucher scheme in Uttranchal and Uttar Pradesh. Given the large role of the private sector’s involvement in health care provision and the costs associated, a voucher system was proposed as a solution to extend the reach of private sector in an affordable manner to the poor. Vouchers can reduce economic barriers to access and can effectively target subsidies directly to the poor and ensure high quality of services.

Strengthen Multisectoral Engagement

In Mali, HPI successfully supported the integration of family planning into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by providing critical evidence on the valuable contribution of family planning to poverty reduction efforts. The PRSP will guide the multisectoral efforts of the Malian government to reduce poverty and improve economic performance for the next several years. Including family planning in the strategy ensures that a key health need of Malian women will be improved and that the rate of population growth will be complementary to development goals.

Encourage Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Constella Futures, via the MEASURE Evaluation Project, is developing a guide for USAID missions for program planning and targeting resources toward the poor. The guide provides USAID missions with clear steps and information on translating policy priorities from high levels of government into programming on the ground. One aspect of the guide will provide concrete strategies for identifying the poor, as well as including best practices for response in specific country or regional contexts. 

Contact Constella for more information about our work in poverty alleviation and equity, or to learn more about the Poverty and Equity Working Group.