Aid on Spreadsheets

UNHCO voices for health rights 2015-19

UNHCO was founded in 1999 to promote full integration and implementation of the rights based approach in Uganda´s health sector through meaningful citizen-duty bearer engagement in healthcare planning and delivery. Since 2003, UNHCO has functioned as the secretariat for a coalition of 25 Civil Society Organisations called the Voices for Health Rights (VHR). VHR is a group of health rights advocacy NGOs from diverse health thematic areas of focus. In 2010 a sub-coalition of the VHR, consisting of eight of the VHR NGOs, formed to implement the Maternal Health Project (MHP). The initial selection of partners from VHR to become IPs was based on a system review that took into consideration organizational capacity and cost-efficiency. A proposal was submitted to Sweden for a five-year support. Building on the previous financial support by Sweden to the project, a new project proposal has been submitted for an additional five year support, in what is called a phase II, 2015-2019. The working title of the project is: “Improving Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health through the Rights-Based Approach among rural communities in Uganda”. The goal for the MHP phase II is “To contribute to reduction of maternal and new born mortality in Uganda” and its purpose is “To improve demand and utilisation of maternal, sexual, reproductive and new born health services at community level through the rights-based approach”. Health is a resource strained public sector in Uganda. Focus has been to supply services, while little resources have been put into quality assuring services. Yet, it is the quality assurance that ensures that services can be, and are, used. The resource constraint spills over into weak and often incomplete service delivery chains. The MDG that has progressed least in Uganda is the MDG 5. Progress to fulfil MDG 5 is ultimately a combination of sexuality rights and a health system chain that can ensure safe pregnancies through to deliveries. In light of a stagnant maternal mortality indicator in Uganda, the MHP was formed to create demand for accountability of delivering quality and equity health services in a transparent manner followed by promotion of access to, and utilization of, maternal health services. In general terms the project will use a right based approach to programming to build capacity amongst potential maternal health service users to demand for quality services. In order to fulfil the project goal and purpose, there are four project result areas identified for the MHP: • Communities aware of their rights and demand quality comprehensive MSRH services. • Communities have good access to and high utilization of comprehensive MSRH services. • Key duty bearers held accountable for delivery of comprehensive MSRH services. • IPs and Secretariat have capacity to effectively implement MHP and mainstream comprehensive MSRHR. A baseline will be established during the first part of phase II for the new SRHR indicators. On a general note, UNHCO argues that there is very little information with regards to (un)safe abortions and post-abortion care, as well as legal rights on this topic. Moreover, there is limited information on family planning as a right. There are major gaps in knowledge with regard to newborn care and adolescents health. During phase I the project was guided by a well-developed results framework. This framework clearly lines out from where the project departed and what it wanted to reach. Two of the indicators identify how many people they wanted to reach either through group interventions or individual interventions. With regard to group interventions the project aim at reaching approximately 1.3 people in the next five years (from a baseline of approximately 600,000). With regard to individual encounters, the project aim to reach approximately 160,000 persons over the next five years (this is to be added on to the baseline of having reached approximately 340,000 during phase I). D

To reduce maternal and new-born mortality in Uganda

Project ID

SE-0-SE-6-5118007001-UGA-13020

Activity status

4 - Post-completion

Aid type

C01 - Project-type interventions

% to Uganda

100.00

Organisations

Implementing

INTERNATIONAL NGO

Funding

Sweden

Extending

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Accountable

UNHCO/UGANDA NATIONAL HEALTH U

CRS code	%
Reproductive health care (13020)	100.0