New WHO Report Explores Role of Civil Society in Accelerating Progress on RMNCH
The WHO has published Strategies, tactics and approaches: Conducting and evaluating national civil society advocacy for reproductive, maternal and child health, based on 2012 consultation on the role of civil society advocates in addressing the complex challenges for advancing health throughout the RMNCH continuum. The report is organized around four themes:
(i) Working to influence health sector policy and programmes at national and local levels; (ii) Working to influence national policy: parliamentarians and legislative processes;
(iii) Supporting national and subnational civil society advocacy: programme managers’ experience; and
(iv) Assessing advocacy impact and monitoring performance.
Throughout, it touches on challenges and opportunities for responding to developments at global, national and local levels. For example, it highlights both the ongoing global debate over what priorities, targets and goals should be included in the post-2015 development agenda; and the trend toward increasing decentralization of health systems, which elevates the importance of district-level bodies in policy making and implementation.