Gender, Policy, and Governance

Promoting gender equality for improved health outcomes

Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are fundamental to the realization of improved, sustainable health and development outcomes for all members of society. In alignment with the U. S. Global Health Initiatives first principle on Women, Girls, and Gender Equality (WGGE), the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the USAID Gender Equality and Female. Empowerment Policy, in addition to other bilateral and multilateral gender and health frameworks, Futures Group responds to the needs of women, girls, and sexual minorities in our family planning, reproductive health, and HIV programs. We advance gender integration and equal participation in all of our health policy and governance initiatives. Futures Group builds upon a strong history of technical leadership, research, and capacity-strengthening in gender and health policy. We engage both women and men to support context-specific, multisectoral solutions to reduce gender inequalities in health policy, governance, and civic participation; to scale up successful gender and health policy models; and to develop and promote strong voices among women and sexual minorities in health policy decisionmaking, monitoring, and advocacy.

Program Areas
population and family planning sexual and reproductive health maternal and child health hiv and aids infectious diseases gender poverty and equity

futures group offerings:

We work with ministries of women and gender, and gender departments in ministries of health, to strengthen gender integration in health policy, monitoring and evaluation, and to improve multisectoral coordination and governance structures around key gender and health issues. We support scale-up of best practices in family planning, maternal, neonatal, and child health by working with local partners to integrate gender into policies to expand equitable health coverage. We develop locally adaptable tools for global use in evidence-based advocacy and decisionmaking for improved gender and health outcomes. We strengthen leadership, advocacy, and networking skills among women and sexual minorities to engage in health policy decision making, advocacy, monitoring, and implementation.

Technical Services
policy and advocacy research and strategic information health markets and private sector engagement modeling and economic analysis health systems strengthening strategic consulting program management

Photo by Curt Carnemark/World Bank

Futures Group One Thomas Circle, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20005 U.S.A. tel 202.775.9680 fax 202.775.9694

Record of Results:
In Afghanistan we worked with the Ministry of Public Health to develop a National Gender Strategy and Implementation Plan. Our regional leadership trainings have helped women parliamentarians from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Ghana leverage new skills to develop action plans for advancing national funding and policy commitments to family planning and reproductive health. In Jamaica, we collaborated with decision-makers to ensure gender issues are adequately addressed in the new National Strategic Plan for HIV, and worked with community groups representing lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders to provide input into the strategic planning process.

Futures Group Europe, Ltd. 2nd Floor Turnberry House 100 Bunhill Row London, EC1Y 8ND U.K. tel +44(0) 20 7250 0556 fax +44(0) 20 7336 8742 Futures Group India, Pvt., Ltd. DLF Building No. 10-B, 5th Floor DLF Cyber City, Phase-II Gurgaon - 122002 (Haryana) India tel 91.124.4702000 fax 91.124.4702042

Approach in Action: Nepal

Under the Gender, Policy, and Measurement (GPM) program, Futures Group is collaborating with USAID health programs and other partners in the Asia and the Middle East regions to integrate gender into family planning, maternal, neonatal, and child health, as well as specific nutrition-related scale-up initiatives. By addressing gender inequality, scale-up efforts seek to make coverage more accessible and improve the overall health of women, children, and families. In Nepal, community participation for quality health services is a key component for achieving effective health sector decentralization. There, the GPM program works with local partners to strengthen gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in village health committees, which are responsible for managing local health facilities. By providing training, planning, and monitoring tools for GESI at the community level, Futures Group is strengthening local gender and health governance structures and developing a scalable model to ensure women and other disadvantaged groups are empowered to meaningfully participate in committee meetings and decision-making processes.

Photo by Elisabeth Rottach/Futures Group

What Works for Women and Girls: Evidence for HIV/AIDS Interventions
This comprehensive resource presents data from more than 90 countries to guide donors, policymakers, and program managers in planning evidence-based HIV/AIDS policies and programs for women and girls.

Investing in the health and well-being of women and girls is not only the right thing to do from a moral and human rights perspective. It is also smart, strategic, and cost effective. This means focusing on delivering cross-sectoral interventions where they are needed to meet the real needs of people. Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UNWomen

In designing HIV/AIDS programs, policymakers and program planners are faced with a wide array of possible programming. With scarce resources and growing demand for services, priorities must be based on effective interventions. What Works serves the unique function of bringing all of these topics together to provide a full range of successful gender-sensitive programming for women and girls.

www.whatworksforwomen.org

RAPIDWomen
RAPIDWomen is an interactive software tool that links family planning and women centered strategies, thereby demonstrating how investing in these programs can increase quality of life for women, girls, and families, as well as overall development. Funded by USAID and the Packard Foundation, with current applications in Mali and Tanzania, this model can be used to create a country-specific evidence base for womens rights advocates, government leaders, and womens organizations to advocate for increased investments in family planning/reproductive health and other women-centered interventions in their countries.

Futures Group, the global health consulting firm, helps to protect and promote peoples well-being around the world. For 40 years, Futures Group has created lasting solutions to some of the most pressing public health challenges facing nations. For more information, please visit www.futuresgroup.com, www.facebook.com/FuturesGroup, and www.twitter.com/FuturesGroupGbl.