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Harnessing the Power of Data: Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge Impact Report

March 23, 2023

With generous support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and The Rockefeller Foundation, data.org issued an open call in May 2020 for breakthrough ideas that harness the power of data to help people and communities rebound and remain resilient in the wake of COVID-19 and its economic impact.Through the Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge, data.org sought to address a systemic issue: the majority of social initiatives don't have the budget, staff, capacity, or partnerships to take full advantage of our current data revolution. But with support, mission-driven organizations can use data, tools, and methods to make their work go further and faster, helping more people.After thorough review, we awarded $10 million in funding and technical assistance across eight exemplary awardees from a pool of over 1,200 applications, and the Paul Ramsay Foundation funded a ninth project. These awardees show the range of opportunities that exist to use data to drive social impact for workers, entrepreneurs, and communities. 

Spotlight on Local and Refugee-Led Efforts to Address Key Protection Needs: Lessons Learned in Three Key Regions

March 13, 2023

In 2022, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) undertook a geographic rapid assessment project to better understand the unmet legal needs and protection gaps faced by displaced people in three regions of the world: Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia.This report synthesizes insights and recommendations gathered from interviews with refugee-led initiatives (RLI) and local organizations serving populations facing acute systemic legal rights violations, shares key trends impacting displaced populations in the three regions, and identifies opportunities for more productive and inclusive philanthropic engagement and international cooperation with historically excluded RLIs.

Philanthropy in BRICS countries and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

March 1, 2023

Philanthropy in the BRICS countries and the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a review prepared by Russian Donors Forum alongside with the research Philanthropy and social investment in the BRICS countries. The review analyses how philanthropy in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is aligning its activity with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), what progress has already been made and what challenges the sector faces.The review studies the common features of philanthropy of the BRICS countries, as well as the role of Agenda 2030 in the sector of philanthropy and social investment in each of the countries.

Philanthropy and social investment in BRICS countries

March 1, 2023

Philanthropy and social investment in the BRICS countries is a study initiated by the Russian Donors Forum Association and the Ural Federal University Center for Research of Philanthropy and Social Programs. The International partners of the study are the Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support Association (WINGS) and the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose Association (CECP Global Exchange). In addition to the research there has been published a review Philanthropy in the BRICS countries and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the donor communities of the BRICS countries and to assess the COVID-19 impact on the sector of philanthropy and social investment.The study represents a portrait of the donor communities of the BRICS countries, the external conditions of their activities, including the regulatory environment; highlights the urgency of the donor organizations' work. In addition, the authors of the study tried to identify the challenges that arose before the donor community of the BRICS countries in connection with the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as analyze the activities and approaches of the donor community aimed at combating the pandemic and its social consequences.

“This Is Why We Became Activists”: Violence Against Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women and Non-Binary People

February 14, 2023

According to interviews Human Rights Watch conducted with 66 lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ+) activists, researchers, lawyers, and movement leaders in 26 countries between March and September 2022, forced marriage is one of ten key areas of human rights abuses most affecting LBQ+ women's lives. Human Rights Watch identified the following areas of LBQ+ rights as those in need of immediate investigation, advocacy, and policy reform. This report explores how the denial of LBQ+ people's rights in these ten areas impacts their lives and harms their ability to exercise and enjoy the advancement of more traditionally recognized LGBT rights and women's rights:the right to free and full consent to marriage;land, housing, and property rights;freedom from violence based on gender expression;freedom from violence and discrimination at work;freedom of movement and the right to appear in public without fear of violence;parental rights and the right to create a family;the right to asylum;the right to health, including services for sexual, reproductive, and mental health;protection and recognition as human rights defenders; andaccess to justice.This investigation sought to analyze how and in what circumstances the rights of LBQ+ people are violated, centering LBQ+ identity as the primary modality for inclusion in the report. Gender-nonconforming, non-binary, and transgender people who identify as LBQ+ were naturally included. At the same time, a key finding of the report is that the fixed categories "cisgender" and "transgender" are ill-suited for documenting LBQ+ rights violations, movements, and struggles for justice. As will be seen in this report, people assigned female at birth bear the weight of highly gendered expectations which include marrying and having children with cisgender men, and are punished in a wide range of ways for failing or refusing to meet these expectations. Many LBQ+ people intentionally decenter cisgender men from their personal, romantic, sexual, and economic lives. In this way, the identity LBQ+ itself is a transgression of gendered norms. Whether or not an LBQ+ person identifies as transgender as it is popularly conceptualized, the rigidly binary (and often violently enforced) gender boundaries outside of which LBQ+ people already live, regardless of their gender identity, may help to explain why the allegedly clear division between "cisgender" and "transgender" categories simply does not work for many LBQ+ communities. This report aims to explore and uplift, rather than deny, that reality.

انفلونزا الطيور والدعم الغذائي معالجة قضايا الدواجن الصناعية في مصر Avian flu and food subsidies Egypt poultry industry

January 30, 2023

ارتفع إنتاج واستهلاك الدواجن الصناعية بشكل كبير في مصر حيث نما نظام الأغذية الزراعية للشركات في البلاد منذ ثمانينيات القرن المنصرم. يتناول هذا التقرير قضيتين رئيسيتين تتعلقان بصناعة الدواجن.القضية الاولى: فيروس إنفلونزا الطيور المتوطن والذي يتكرر في البلاد مع كل موسم إنفلونزا ويقتل الملايين والملايين من الطيور وبعض البشر أيضا. وقد كانت أحد تدابير الاحتواء الرئيسية التي اتخذتها السلطات هو عمليات الإعدام الجماعي للدجاج "المنزلي" الذي يشيع الافتراض أنه ينشر الفيروس. لكن هذه الافتراض خاطئ لان الفيروس قد انتقل بالفعل من المنشآت الصناعية إلى المنازل. القضية الثانية: الدعم الحكومي للغذاء. استفادت صناعة الدواجن ومنتجو ومستوردو اللحوم الحمراء من نظام دعم الأغذية (غير الخبز).للتعامل مع هذه القضايا: 1. يجب اتخاذ إجراءات لإضعاف صناعة الدواجن الصناعية وقدرتها على نقل الطيور المصابة (والفيروس) إلى مشغلي الدواجن الآخرين من خلال سلسلة القيمة الخاصة بها. كما يجب فرض قيود حكومية على بيع الطيور من مرافق التربية الكبرى. 2. عدم إنهاء دعم المواد الغذائية (على الرغم من الدعوات للقيام بذلك). ولكن بدلا من ذلك، يجب استبدل الدعم المقدم لقطاع صناعة الدواجن بدعم المنتج والمستهلك للفول - وهو غذاء نباتي أصيل غني بالبروتين. وهذا من شأنه تنويع مصادر البروتين في الوجبات الغذائية المصرية.

Eek! What the chick: Addressing the issues of industrial poultry in Egypt

January 6, 2023

With the rise of a corporate agri-food system in Egypt since the 1980s, the country's industrial poultry production has increased dramatically. This report focuses on two main concerns with Egypt's corporate poultry industry.First issue: Endemic avian flu virus. It recurs in the country every flu season, killing millions upon millions of birds and some humans too. One of the authorities' key containment measures had been mass cullings of "household"/"cottage" chickens which were assumed to have spread the virus. But the assumption is false. The virus had actually moved from industrial facilities to households. Industrial firms not only were saved, they further consolidated as smaller farms were decimated by the mass cullings.Second issue: Government food subsidies. The poultry industry and red meat producers/importers have benefited from the food (non-bread) subsidy system. And a growing percentage of imported grains and other foods are used to feed animals and for food processing (i.e. industrial uses) rather than for direct human consumption only.To deal with these issues: 1. Take action to weaken the corporate poultry industry and its ability to pass on infected birds (and the virus) to other poultry operators through its value chain. Advocate for government restrictions on sale of birds from large-scale breeding facilities. 2. Do not end food subsidies (in spite of calls to do so). But instead replace the subsidy on poultry with a producer and consumer subsidy on fava beans - an indigenous, protein-rich plant food. This would diversify protein sources in Egyptian diets.

From “Innovation for Localization” to “Local Philanthropy, Localization and Power”

November 17, 2022

n 2021, five organizations – Save the Children Denmark, Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR), West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), STAR Ghana Foundation (SGF) and the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) participated in an ambitious and experimental joint project.The aim of the project was to "test durable, locally rooted funding mechanisms" in Somalia and Ghana, with the broader purpose of contributing – by demonstration – to efforts within the international humanitarian aid and development sector to transform and localize aid. The purpose of this learning report, curated by the GFCF, is to capture some of the main insights and reflections ofthe participating organizations and to consider the broader implications of and lessons from the project. It focuses on the experiences of those involved and the larger question of how unorthodox configurations of actors and new and different kinds of partnerships might contribute towards transformative change within the international aid system. 

The African Health Initiative’s Role in Advancing the Use of Embedded Implementation Research for Health Systems Strengthening

September 15, 2022

Embedded implementation research (EIR) is an approach to integrating knowledge generation and decision making about policy and program implementation that has been conceptualized and promoted by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) since 2012. The understanding and use of EIR as an approach to address knowledge gaps in health systems is gaining traction within the global health community. The African Health Initiative (AHI) has built on the EIR approach and demonstrated notable success in pursuing the twin agendas of health systems strengthening and research capacity strengthening. Since its inception, the AHI has produced more than 350 publications; trained more than 3,000 researchers, decision makers, and health workers; and strengthened the institutional capacities of more than 300 health facilities and research institutions across Africa. In addition to having influenced the policies and practices of many countries, this work has also helped to shape the thinking of researchers, policy makers, and development partners on the use of EIR as a means of health systems strengthening. This longstanding collaboration has engendered extensive learning about the effectiveness of the EIR approach and its contributions to improving the use of knowledge to strengthen health systems. In this commentary, we trace the history and growth of EIR and encapsulate its key learnings through the AHI's work.

Health System Resilience: Withstanding Shocks and Maintaining Progress

September 15, 2022

The authors explore the factors that contribute to a health system's ability to withstand external shocks, emphasizing the positive role that implementation research can play in promoting responsiveness to community needs. Key Messages:As evidenced by the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak and the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the lack of resilient health systems results in an ineffective and delayed response to emergency health threats and disruptions to the delivery of essential health services.Embedding implementation research within health systems enables health care workers and policy makers to rapidly identify facilitating and challenging contextual factors as well as to devise and adapt strategies to respond to emerging obstacles.Ensuring accessibility and affordability of health care and building a health system capable of providing a range of services starting at the primary care level between crises is crucial to maintaining progress in health outcomes during a health threat.Implementation science can play a critical role in sharing transferable lessons on how strategies and programs can be implemented to build and maintain resilient health systems.

Barriers and Facilitators to Data Use for Decision Making: The Experience of the African Health Initiative Partnerships in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique

September 15, 2022

Background: Three African Health Initiative (AHI) partnership projects in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique implemented strategies to improve the quality and evaluation of routinely collected data at the primary health care level and stimulate its use in evidence-based decision making. We compare how these programs designed and carried out data for decision-making (DDM) strategies, elaborate on barriers and facilitators to implementation success, and offer recommendations for future DDM programming.Methods: Researchers from each project collaboratively wrote a cross-country protocol based on these objectives. By adapting the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) through a qualitative theme reduction process, they harmonized lines of inquiry on the design of the respective DDM strategies and the barriers and facilitators of effective implementation. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders from the primary health care systems in each country, and we carried out multistage, thematic analyses using a deductive lens.Results: Effective implementation of DDM depended on whether implementers felt that DDM was adaptable to context, feasible to trial, and easy to introduce and maintain. The prevailing policy and political environment in the wider health system, learning climate and absorptive capacity for evidence-based change in DDM settings, engagement of external change agents and internal change leaders, and promotion of opportunities and means for team-based reflection and evaluations of what works influenced the success or failure of DDM strategies.Conclusion: Opportunities for team-based capacity building and individual mentorship led to effective DDM programming. External policies and associated incentives bolstered this but occasionally led to unintended consequences. Leadership engagement and availability of resources to act on recommendations; respond to capacity-building needs; and facilitate collaborations between peers, within hierarchies, and across the local health system proved crucial to DDM, as was encouraging adaptation and opportunities for iterative on-the-job learning.

Improving Primary Care Quality Through Supportive Supervision and Mentoring: Lessons From the African Health Initiative in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique

September 15, 2022

Introduction: Supportive supervision and mentoring (SSM) is crucial to primary care quality and effectiveness. Yet, there is little clarity on how to design and implement SSM and make it sustainable in primary health care (PHC) systems. The 3 African Health Initiative partnership projects introduced strategies to do this in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Mozambique. We describe: (1) how each partnership adapted SSM implementation strategies, (2) the dynamics of implementation and change that ensued after intervening within PHC systems, and (3) insights on the SSM sustainability as a mainstay of PHC.Methods: Researchers from each project collaboratively wrote a cross-country protocol based on those objectives. For this, they adapted implementation science frameworks—the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment model and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research—through a qualitative theme reduction process. This resulted in harmonized lines of inquiry on the design, implementation, and potential sustainability of each project's SSM strategy. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with stakeholders from PHC systems in each country and thematic analyses ensued.Results: Across the projects, SSM strategies acquired multiple components to address individual, systems, and process-related determinants. Benefits arose from efforts that addressed worker-level attitudes and barriers, promoted a wider learning environment, and enhanced collaborative structures and tools for monitoring performance. Peer exchanges and embedded implementation research were critical to the perceived effectiveness of SSM strategies.Discussion: Despite differences in their approach to SSM implementation, there are common crucial ingredients across the SSM strategies of the 3 AHI partner projects from which important lessons arise: (1) positioning learning and adaptation opportunities within the routine workings of PHC systems, facilitation, and technical support to reflect and utilize new knowledge; (2) multisectoral collaboration, particularly with academic organizations; and (3) building PHC decision-makers' and implementation teams' capacity for evidence-informed change.