Quarterly Narrative Report: Partnerships for Advancing Community Services (PACS) Project

The project brings together a team of international and national NGOs, including the International Rescue Committee, Global Communities, and Population Services International, to increase access to quality community-based health services, support effective health communications strategies, and improve access to safe WASH services. Despite significant improvements in the health of Liberians since the end of the country's civil war in 2003, large disparities in access to care still exist. The Government of Liberia has prioritized community-level health, social welfare, and WASH services as an effective means of further improving the health status of Liberians. However, the Ministry of Health, Department of Social Protection, and other key ministry departments lack the resources, capacity, planning, supervision, and coordination to operationalize these guidance documents. The PACS strategy is to develop tailored capacity-building packages for Ministry counterparts and local civil society organizations to help them manage and deliver quality community-based services, while emphasizing alignment with national guidance documents and close coordination with Government of Liberia ministries, other USAID partners, and implementers funded through other donors. A comprehensive and fully participatory approach to institutional strengthening and capacity building will go beyond knowledge transfer and address context-specific factors, including those critical for a post-Ebola Virus Disease environment. The PACS project has the following objectives: broadened capacity of Ministry of Health, Community Health Teams, NGOs, and community organizations to implement and manage community services; increased availability of community-based health and social welfare services; improved health-seeking behavior and practice; and improved access to safe WASH services. This report covers the activities and results of the PACS Project for the period February 23-June 30, 2015 (Quarter 1 of Year 1). The project was officially launched by the US Embassy and the Government of Liberia, and all key personnel were recruited and deployed. Almost all national technical and operation staff were recruited and deployed, and procurement of vehicles, motorbikes, and office supplies was completed. Four sub-agreements were signed with partners. Key documents, including the project's AIP, were submitted to and approved by USAID, and an Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring plan was submitted to and approved by USAID. The project's start-up phase was successful, with all key personnel in place and procurement of necessary resources completed. The project management team is now focused on implementing the project's strategies and approaches, including capacity-building activities for Ministry counterparts and local civil society organizations. The project's technical assistance model, which blends embedded technical assistance with targeted short-term technical assistance, is being implemented to ensure high-quality inputs are integrated into day-to-day work.