The Challenge Intiative

Project Lead’s message:

The population indices as per PDHS 2017-18 show a contraceptive prevalence rate of 35% with an unmet need of 17%, which has to be catered to at a fast pace by providing quality products and services. The government of Pakistan has embarked on an ambitious plan to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate by following the roadmap of FP2030. The government’s pledge (to meet the FP 2030 goal) sets the platform for The Challenge Initiative (TCI) in Pakistan, to assist in addressing the unmet need of the urban poor. With proven, evidence-based High impact interventions, we are sure that the CPR in the urban intervention districts will jump as it has in other countries of Asia and Africa where The Challenge Initiative has been working for the past five years. Programs like The Challenge Initiative can support the government by capacity-building of the technical staff on implementing high-impact interventions which have worked so well in other countries and support to build a resilient health system that can lead its own way for the future health and population needs of the country.

Team Members

Ghazunfer Abbas Chief of Party

Sajid Khaskheli Senior Program Manager

Aiman Haroon Manager Communications

Zafar Dehraj Provincial Lead, Sindh

Sheikh Inam-ur-Rehman Senior Manager Behavior Change Communications

Noman Khan Deputy Manager, Finance

Objectives

Greater self-reliance of local governments to scale up family planning and AYSRH high-impact interventions, leading to sustained improvements in urban health systems and increased use of modern contraception, especially among the urban poor.

Impact

14 High Impact Interventions uploaded on TCI-U (https://tciurbanhealth.org/pakistan-toolkit/)
Additional users: 125,588
Total Family Health Days: 480

Key Successes

Program launched at the highest pedestal of Pakistan.
12 self-selected cities
Expression of Interest received.
Letters of Commitment received.

About the Donor

The Challenge Initiative (TCI) launched in July 2016 with a demand-driven “business unusual” approach to address rapid growth in urban slums across four regions – East Africa, Francophone West Africa, India and Nigeria – by rapidly scaling up evidence-based, high-impact family planning interventions. The United Nations predicts that nearly 70% of the world’s population will be urban by 2050 with 90% of that urbanization occurring in Africa and Asia.

Almost all of that growth will be concentrated in poor urban settlements. This situation is further compounded by the largest youth population ever, with youth ages 15 to 24 years accounting for 16% (1.2 billion) of the global population. The world is not only becoming more urban, but governance structures in many countries are decentralizing to local governments. Led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, TCI works through five regional “hubs” in East Africa (Jhpiego), Francophone West Africa (IntraHealth International), India (Population Services International), Nigeria (Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs) and the Philippines (Zuellig Family Foundation). A new round of funding totalling $71.3 million – received from the Gates Foundation and Bayer AG in October 2021 – will allow TCI to add a new Pakistan hub and ultimately support local governments across 170 cities by 2025.