Subproject report on coordination of family planning activities between Turkish NGO"s and MOH

Although NGO"s could be a strong and reliable private sector channel for implementation of family planning activities, there is a tendency for competition to emerge among them. Such actions could create gaps in services and/or duplication of effort. The purpose of this subproject is to accelerate the coordination of family planning activities among Turkish NGO"s and the MOH. The activities of the subproject included a meeting of policymakers and program directors and a workshop for mid-level program managers from the MOH and Turkish NGO"s. Eight policymakers and program directors from three Turkish institutions attended the first meeting which was coordinated by the central office of the Family Planning Association of Turkey (FPAT) in Ankara. The three institutions, including the Ministry of Health, unequivocally concurred on the issue of collaboration in their programs. The participants selected provinces for future joint activities and identified specific areas for collaboration. These include public education, development of educational materials, and implementation of activities. Twenty-seven participants from the three institutions attended the workshop held in Kizilcahamam. Program achievements highlighting collaborative efforts in the six branch offices of the FPAT (under a previous subproject with the FPAT) were presented. With support from these branches as well as from the MOH and TFHPF, participants from four other branches developed skeleton proposals for possible funding under PAC IIb. (Author abstract)