Ghar Ghar Maa Swasthya (GGMS)
CURRENT PROJECT
Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ghar Ghar Maa Swasthya (GGMS), or Healthy Homes Program, is USAID's flagship, social marketing program in Nepal to strengthen the marketing and distribution of health products in rural and hard-to-reach areas through the private sector. The project is a $9.7 million, five-year contract managed by FHI 360 in collaboration with the Nepali-managed Nepal CRS Company (CRS).
Meeting the Needs in Remote Nepal
Social marketing in Nepal dates back to 1978 with the establishment of CRS Company: one of the oldest and most successful locally managed social marketing organizations in the world. CRS has established itself as a pioneer in health communications and marketing, playing a key role in developing markets for condoms, oral contraceptive pills, and oral rehydration salts. CRS has helped increase the role of the private health sector in Nepal, particularly the use of pharmacies as a source of products and services. CRS products are now available in all 75 districts of Nepal.
In spite of its successes, CRS faces the same challenges as many donor-funded social marketing organizations in developing countries. In order to reduce its dependence on USAID funding to support its operations and activities, CRS must develop strategies to improve its financial sustainability. At the same time, serving people living in hard-to-reach areas is hampered by in Nepal's hilly and mountainous landscape, and frequent political turmoil.
Project Vision
GGMS assists the Government of Nepal in expanding the depth, reach, and
impact of the private sector in social marketing, by providing a low-cost
supply of maternal/child health, family planning, and HIV-prevention products
and services. FHI 360 provides technical support to CRS in two major areas:
improving the CRS's institutional sustainability, and increasing the availability
and accessibility of health products in hard-to-reach rural areas.
Specifically, GGMS aims to:
- Increase awareness and use of selected family planning, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS/STI commodities and services
- Increase access and use of HIV/AIDS/STI prevention commodities in designated "hot zones" where high-risk sexual transactions occur in urban areas, and along major highways
- Increase CRS's capacity to sustainably market key public health products (condoms, oral contraceptive pills, injectable contraceptives, and maternal and child health commodities)
- Enhance CRS's capacity to design and implement strategic behavior change communication (BCC) activities, including generic behavior change campaigns to address key health issues
Strategy
GGMS takes a four-pronged approach towards building CRS's capacity to become a sustainable social marketing organization, and to create greater demand for health products with a particular emphasis on hard-to-reach areas:
Focusing on Rural, Hard-to-Reach Areas
GGMS focuses program efforts on underserved and most-at-risk populations, scaling up promising rural and community-based marketing initiatives, and engaging non-governmental organizations and commercial distributors to increase product accessibility in hard-to-reach areas.
Building CRS's Leadership Capacity
FHI 360 supports CRS in continuing its path of transformation into a stronger, more independent, local social marketing organization that can achieve the results that donors expect.
Increasing CRS's Independence and Sustainability
CRS seeks to recover product costs for most of its social marketing interventions, and will explore new commercial initiatives to generate revenue that can help achieve full cost recovery.
Implementing Cutting-Edge Strategic Behavior Change Communication
FHI 360 helps build CRS's capacity to implement innovative, evidence-based, BCC programs to support its existing product portfolio. In addition, FHI 360 manages generic BCC and market-building initiatives in collaboration with local partners and the Nepali Government as a way to ensure program success and sustainability.
GGMS is a follow-on to the AED-managed N-MARC project in Nepal. For more information about that project, please visit the Nepal Social Marketing and Franchise Project (N-MARC) project page for more information on FHI 360's social marketing activities in Nepal.
News, Publications, and Results
News
- GGMS Hosts USAID General Counsel (April 2012)
- Lois Quam joins GGMS project for World AIDS Day (December 2011)
- GGMS Workshop Expands Horizons for Leading Social Marketing Organization (July 2011)
- Dr. Kevin Rushing, Mission Director, USAID/Nepal Discusses Healthcare in Nepal (September 2010)
Publications
- HIV and AIDS Fact Sheet (PDF, 700kb)
- Family Planning and Reproductive Health Fact Sheet (PDF, 496kb)
Contacts
| Camille
Saadé Project Director 1825 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20009 +1 (202) 884-8959 csaade@fhi360.org |
|
Peter
Oyloe Chief of Party Gopal Bhawan, Anamika Galli Baluwatar Ward No. 4 Kathmandu, Nepal +977-1-2160785/6 poyloe@fhi360.org |