Supporting Action

To support Leadership Fellows’ collaborative action throughout the program, the LDM program awarded small grants to teams of two or more leaders at various times. The objective of these “mini-grants” was to foster collaboration between leaders while supporting their ability to put into action skills and knowledge acquired through leadership development opportunities. Grants supported a range of actions related to promoting reproductive health and addressing population issues.  These actions included hosting seminars and workshops; conducting applied research targeting policy makers; and using locally appropriate communication channels to disseminate information about reproductive health. 

Examples
A few examples of the work Leadership Fellows conducted with LDM mini-grants include the following:

• In India, Leadership Fellows Dr. Pushpa Tiwari and Ms. Rama Khanna organized a maternal and child health awareness campaign in urban slums of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand state.  The team used street theater to disseminate maternal and child health information to reach over 590 women and children. Topics included ante-natal and post-natal care, immunizations, spacing and permanent methods of contraception, complications of early marriage, and nutrition. The street theater ended with a question and answer session to answer questions posed by young women.

• Three Leadership Fellows in Pakistan were awarded an LDM mini-grant to support their work to institutionalize reproductive health education in schools in Sanghar District, Sindh Province. Their work included developing and publishing an educational manual in the local language about sexual and reproductive health rights; orienting staff members and administrators from schools in Sanghar District on how to use the educational manual; and facilitating advocacy and networking forums to strengthen links between key stakeholders including local government institutions, schools, non-governmental organizations, and advocates of reproductive health for the purpose of building a more supportive environment for reproductive health education in schools.

• In the Philippines, a team of Leadership Fellows who are also medical doctors conducted a nationwide survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices on reproductive health among OB-GYN practitioners. The team identified gaps in reproductive health among the practitioners and came up with recommendations on how these issues could be resolved. For more information on their work, read their story.