AHKRC was the recipient of PPIF 1st Cycle grant funding to test out an innovative urban model of women’s economic empowerment combined with family planning counseling and service provision. The women-centered pilot seeks to enable local women to become Noor Aapis and provide FP information and referrals, generate income from sales of common products, overcome prevalent FP myths and promote longer term behavioral change in urban slums. The novel approach uses existing private healthcare providers and creates a lasting cadre of informed and trained community outreach thus helping communities incrementally change social norms.
Read MoreThrough 36 Noor Aapis, the initiative aims to reach 40,000 MWRAs with FP services such as long term methods (IUCDs, Injections and Implants via referrals), and provide easy access to short term methods (pills, condoms via sales). In partnership with NUST Behavioral Science Department, the pilot will also test out the effectiveness of mCBT (modified Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) in voluntarily converting non-FP users to become users. Using real time monitoring and supervision information, the AHKRC Dashboard will allow the project stakeholders to easily track contraceptive prevalence (CPR) trends, household visits, uptake of LARCs, mCBT outcomes, referrals and follow up visits.