TIST: Rising carbon price enables more rapid growth of TIST tree growing in Africa and India
Growth of TIST’s pro-poor tree growing activities in sub-Saharan Africa and India has been held back in the past by the low price paid in the informal carbon market for its “high quality” carbon credits. The greater recent awareness of the need to act to address climate change has led to a large increase in 2020 in the price paid to purchase TIST’s carbon credits. The resulting increase in resources has enabled TIST to adopt a more ambitious expansion plan aimed at substantial further increases in the currently 90,000 farmer beneficiaries and the currently 18 million trees grown.
Jacaranda's Momentous Milestones!
Over 500,000 mothers and families reached through PROMPTS!
In Kenya over 33% of the maternal deaths are caused by delays in seeking care. Mothers need to be empowered to seek care at the right time and place. Since 2017, the PROMPTS team has been working hand-in-hand with county government teams to reach as many moms and families as possible, to equip them with tips and information to increase care-seeking during and after pregnancy. This year we crossed the milestone of half a million mothers on PROMPTS. PROMPTS has driven a 20% increase in mothers seeking antenatal care at government hospitals, mothers are twice as likely to take up family planning during the postpartum period, and 83% of mothers who are asked to seek additional care go to the hospital. County governments have begun to share in the costs of PROMPTS.
Q2 2021 DATA OVERVIEW
15 Number of counties enrolled since 2017
357 In-facility mentors trained under EMONC Mentorship Program
25 MILLION Messages sent to Mums since 2017
580 Facilities enrolled since 2018
527,333 PROMPTS Enrollments to date
127,765 Enrollments in Q2, 2021
Jacaranda Successfully Scale Government Partnerships supported by EfD funding
Jacaranda Health delivers solutions through government hospitals, which makes the partnership with county and national stakeholders critical. They secure partnerships and commitments from national and county health departments to promote quality healthcare while utilizing low-cost, high- impact health innovations. A central tenet of their partnership with the government is to eventually transition ownership of Jacaranda solutions to county health system managers. Jacaranda measure ownership by tracking cost-share or cost-transition. They ask counties to use their health budgets to pay for the launch and operations of programs. This is done by aligning with County Annual Work Plans (AWPs), which in turn allows counties to recognize Jacaranda Health solutions as part of their annual strategic activities. This approach has been very successful, especially for the EmONC mentorship program where Jacaranda have seen different counties budget for their in-facility training methods. After seeing improvements in health facility indicators, several County reproductive health coordinators (RHC) have recommended Jacaranda programs to other RHCs during their workshops and midwifery conferences.
ACHIEVEMENTS
• Engaged 18/47 counties, have formally partnered with 15 counties and are in conversations with another 3 counties. These are the most populous counties representing 60% of the nation’s births
• Most of our partner counties confirmed the inclusion of PROMPTS and mentorship in their Annual Work Plans
• Counties have contributed to the cost of implementing Jacaranda programs, achieving a 60% cost share in 2020.
CHALLENGE
COVID-19 and the end of significant donor-funded Maternal and Neonatal Health initiatives have tightened county budgets and Jacaranda have been working with county leaders to think about prioritization of low-cost/high impact activities (not just Jacaranda programs) as a means of maintaining maternal and newborn health outcomes.
Jacaranda utilise a mix of digital and in-person training to create the next generation of mentors as they adapt due to Covid-19
To help curb Covid-19 and adhere to the preventive measures during the pandemic phase, Jacaranda introduced Blended Training enabling them to continue with their mentorship program in the different parts of the country. The training comprises both virtual (remote based learning via zoom) and in person training and takes at least 6 days (3 days for each component). They first launched it in April in Makueni County where they had full mentors participation and results that were comparable to their full in person training program.
Over 500,000 women have enrolled in Jacaranda's PROMPTS initiative!
In Kenya over 33% of the maternal deaths are caused by delays in seeking care. Mothers need to be empowered to seek care at the right time and place. Since its inception in 2017, Jacaranda's PROMPTS’ team has been working tirelessly to reach as many mothers and families as possible to equip them with tips and information that will help them to seek care during and after their pregnancy journey, and their SMS platform has now reached over 500,000 mothers! They are active in 11 counties and still continuing, including 7 of Kenya’s top 10 most densely populated counties that account for more than 40% of the births in Kenya.
Using PROMPTS has improved quality of care by driving a 20% increase in mothers seeking antenatal care at government hospitals, mothers are twice as likely to take up family planning during the postpartum period, and 83% of mothers who are asked to seek additional care go to the hospital.
EfD funding successfully supports Jacaranda Health initiatives to foster relationships with the Ministry, strengthening Government partnerships to scale programs to national level.
Jacaranda Health introduces EMONC Mentorship Drills to Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health under Ministry of Health
Jacaranda Health hosted a workshop in April with the Ministry of Health team led by Head of Department of Family Health Dr. Bashir and Head of Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health, Dr. Kaliti. The objective of the workshop was to inform the design of the National EmONC Mentorship Package that is currently under development. Jacaranda Health provided an overview of their EmONC Mentorship program, and in particular how Jacaranda has incorporated simulation drills and other exercises into facility-based mentorship. This is one of the initiatives by the Jacaranda Health team to foster relationships with the Ministry as well as strengthen partnerships with the government to scale up programs to reach national level. EfD are delighted that their grant funding has been so effective in supporting the key roles crucial for Jacaranda Health to be able to successfully expand government partnerships and navigate their sustainability goal of increasing government contribution of program costs for nurse mentorships.
How DELTA is helping providers learn life saving knowledge rapidly and effectively.
DELTA (Digital EmONC Learning and Training Assistant) is now reaching providers across Jacaranda partner counties. Now, a busy nurse in a maternity ward can easily access important ‘bite-sized’ content via her phone. She is taken through case scenarios and her understanding of their material is tested on the spot. DELTA has been used by almost 300 providers in less than three months, with incredibly promising results. Providers are completing modules at a rapid pace, with average post-test scores of 92%! In addition, they can receive continuing professional development (CPD) points for their participation.
