ITAP/India
The Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS) II Technical Assistance Project (ITAP) is a USAID Private Sector Program (PSP) initiative implemented by Constella Futures.
ITAP’s mission is to improve family planning and reproductive and child health (RCH) in India by providing technical assistance as a component of the larger USAID-funded IFPS II project. Activities are national in scope, including providing technical assistance to the Government of India’s RCH-II Program, but attention is focused on the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and Jharkhand.
With funding of US$15.6 million, ITAP is designed to help IFPS II foster public-private partnerships to expand access to affordable, quality RCH services in rural areas and urban slums. In doing so, the project will design, test, document, and leverage expansion of effective partnership models. The performance period for ITAP is 2005–2010.
IFPS II—and the technical assistance provided through ITAP—builds on the efforts of the IFPS I Project (1992–2004), which developed a range of approaches for increasing access to RCH services primarily in Uttar Pradesh (for more, see www.sifpsa.org/index.php). Among the innovative approaches initiated during IFPS I were decentralized district action plans, community-based distribution of family planning commodities through NGOs and dairy cooperatives, and enlisting corporate sector-supported health facilities in the provision of RCH services.
Objectives
The primary objectives of ITAP’s technical assistance are to:
a) incorporate best practices in reproductive and child health when models of public-private partnership are developed, demonstrated, and documented;
b) form linkages with Indian technical organizations to deepen the already strong national capacity for international quality technical assistance;
c) develop the capacity of the state and national public sector to enter into partnerships with the private sector;
d) incorporate sustainability considerations and replication strategies into the models and systems from the outset; and
e) bring these models to scale with resources from other sources.
Partners
IFPS II partners include USAID; the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; State Innovations for Family Planning Services Project Agency (SIFPSA) in Uttar Pradesh; the Jharkhand Health Society; the Uttaranchal Health and Family Welfare Society; ITAP, which is implemented by Constella Futures; and state governments.
Recent Activities
- Working with local partners to identify critical elements for successful health sector social franchising projects and to devise a road map for a pilot project
- Designing surveys and completing data collection to establish baseline indicators for various components of the IFPS II project
- Preparing plans to introduce a voucher system to provide RCH services to families living below the poverty line in rural areas in selected districts
- Strengthening the capacity of state-level government health departments to understand issues involved in public-private partnerships and to identify potential partners
- Assisting the national government in preparation of a framework for public-private partnership
- Developing TV spots to promote the aims of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
- Assisting the NHSRC in the development of guidelines for Indian Public Health Standards covering subcenters and primary health centers as well as a manual on standards and quality assurance guidelines for sterilization services
Contact
Dr. Gadde Narayana
Constella Futures
1D-II Park Wood Estate
Rao Tula Ram Marg
New Delhi 110 022
India
Tel: 91-11-26712165/ 71/ 75
Fax: 91-11-26168931
