Headlines:

• CORE Group Co-Sponsors Basics of Community-Based Family Planning Workshop
• CORE Group Plans Online Learning Session on Community Case Management for Newborns
• Registration for CORE Group Spring Meeting Continues
• CORE Group Hosts Family Planning Statutory and Policy Requirements Training

Featured Resources:

• Qualitative Research Methods Training Curriculum
• Demystifying Community Mobilization: An Effective Strategy to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health
• Achieving Child Survival Goals: Potential Contribution of Community Health Workers - The Lancet

Headlines:

CORE Group Co-Sponsors Basics of Community-Based Family Planning Workshop
CORE Group and USAID's Flexible Fund co-sponsored a two-part "Basics of Community-Based Family Planning" workshop in Kampala, Uganda, from February 26 through March 9, working with CORE Group member Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV) for the coordination of the workshop. The first six days of the workshop covered the basics of community-based family planning, and the second five days explored program design and monitoring and evaluation issues. Nearly 30 participants from nine countries and representing 19 organizations worked through the intense curriculum, often running well over scheduled time because they were so excited to share experiences from their programs. One participating organization, Pathfinder, has already said they plan to replicate the training in Bangladesh as part of a program with local NGOs to train general practice health care workers.

Basics of Community-Based Family Planning Workshop Summary

CORE Group Plans Online Learning Session on Community Case Management for Newborns
On April 9 from 1:00-2:30 pm EST, researchers will present the latest information on community case management (CCM), with a focus on how this research can be applied to NGO programs, via the online learning tool, Elluminate. Dr. Gary Darmstadt from Johns Hopkins will present two aspects of community case management. First will be a presentation of the preventive, essential newborn care program in Shivgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which emphasized community mobilization and behavior change communications to promote a package of essential newborn care. Secondly, he will review the second Young Infant Clinical Signs Study, conducted at nine sites in six countries, to identify signs of serious illness in young infants in need of referral level care, and to inform the development of IMCI. Dr. Abdullah Baqui, also of Johns Hopkins, will present the findings of a community-based cluster randomized trial in Bangladesh known as PROJAHNMO and evaluation of a large integrated program implemented by CARE-India known as RACHNA. In the context of high neonatal mortality, both PROJAHNMO and RANCHA developed and evaluated service delivery strategies of packages of community-based maternal and newborn care. The presentation will compare and contrast different service delivery strategies implemented including results of these two studies and discuss the implications for newborn care programs. To register, please visit the CORE Group website.

CCM Elluminate Online Learning Session

Registration for CORE Group's Spring Meeting Continues
Registration continues for the CORE Group's 2007 Spring Meeting to be held in Easton, Maryland, from April 23 to 27. While the Early Bird deadline has passed, you can still sign up to join colleagues from dozens of organizations in discussing this year's theme of "Innovations for Health." For registration, hotel, and transportation information, please visit the CORE Group website.

CORE Spring Meeting 2007 Registration

CORE Group Hosts Family Planning Statutory and Policy Requirements Training
Staff members from the USAID/Office of Population and Reproductive Health, USAID/Office of the General Counsel, and Management Systems International conducted a training session on family planning statutory and policy requirements on March 13, 2007. CORE Group in conjunction with USAID's Flex Fund hosted the session, which gave an overview of the mandatory requirements related to voluntarism, informed choice, abortion, and HIV/AIDS that apply to activities receiving USAID support. Legislation and policies covered primarily included the Tiahrt Amendment (voluntarism/family planning), the Helms Amendment and Mexico City Policy (abortion), and AAPD 5-04 of the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria Act of 2003. The take away message was that it is everyone's responsibility to ensure compliance with these requirements, and while they have broad application, there are also many examples of projects where the requirements apply on a case-by-case basis, so it is essential to keep USG project Cognizant Technical Officers fully informed. For specific information on the various regulations, please consult the USAID website.

Family Planning Statutory and Policy Requirements

Featured Resources:

Qualitative Research Methods Training Curriculum: Produced by CORE Group's Social and Behavioral Change Working Group, the Qualitative Research Methods Training Curriculum provides a comprehensive set of tools to build the capacity of health and development colleagues to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate systematic qualitative research studies. It also explains the processes of collecting data from beneficiary populations in order to answer programmatic questions and make decisions.

Qualitative Research Methods Training Curriculum

Demystifying Community Mobilization: An Effective Strategy to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health: USAID's ACCESS Program has published Demystifying Community Mobilization: An Effective Strategy to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health. The document, reviewed by staff from several CORE Group member organizations, addresses concerns donors and policymakers have with community mobilization and presents evidence from the field that advocates for the inclusion of community mobilization in broad national health plans that aim to improve maternal and child health to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. More than 529,000 women and 4 million newborns die every year-nearly all in developing countries. Although effective interventions for many causes of maternal and newborn death are well documented, effective delivery of care remains an enormous challenge in these settings. Use of existing simple, cost-effective interventions would dramatically reduce these deaths.

Demystifying Community Mobilization: An Effective Strategy to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health

Achieving Child Survival Goals: Potential Contribution of Community Health Workers - The Lancet: In the March 6, 2007 online issue, The Lancet published an article by Andy Haines, David Sanders, and Ute Lehmann, et al, on the potential role of community health workers in child survival. According to the summary "Community health workers can undertake various tasks, including case management of childhood illnesses and delivery of preventive interventions such as immunization, promotion of health behavior, and mobilization of communities. Several trials show substantial reductions in child mortality, particularly through case management…However, community health workers are not a panacea for weak health systems and will need focused tasks, adequate remuneration, training, supervision, and the active involvement of the communities in which they work." For the full article, please visit The Lancet online. You must be a subscriber to view the full text.

Potential Contribution of Community Health Workers