I found my group’s visit to EngenderHealth on November 22nd particularly captivating and informative, largely because of the scope and importance of the work that this organization does. The passionate women who spoke to us described EngenderHealth as an entity that has dedicated 70 years to women’s health. Its focus is global maternal and reproductive health care, with a specific mission of “promoting gender equity, advocating for sound practices and policies, and inspiring people to assert their rights to better, healthier lives.” The organization works in partnership with local organizations in some of the most needy areas of the globe to “train health care professionals and partner with governments and communities to make high-quality family planning and sexual and reproductive health services available.”
The presentation we were given immediately delved into the several programs across the world for which EH is responsible. The work involves improving health care services and systems as they relate to women—through efforts focused on family planning, maternal health, and HIV/AIDS—and concentrating on cross-cutting areas of society that affect health outcomes, such as community engagement, gender, quality improvement, and integration. The first projects we learned about were in India, one of which was related to integrating adolescent health services into government systems and structures and the second of which was about expanding awareness, acceptance, and access around no-scalpel vasectomies. Another country of focus for EngenderHealth is Bangladesh, where the Mayer Hashi project focuses on preventing postpartum hemorrhage and obstetric fistula. Current efforts in Ethiopia focus on reducing maternal mortality and promoting long-acting and permanent methods of contraception and pregnancy prevention, while EngenderHealth’s program in South Africa specifically concentrates on HIV/AIDS prevention. Tanzania is the country with EngenderHealth’s greatest number of programs. The five initiatives there range from targeting male norms and issues of fidelity and gender violence to HIV prevention specifically among commercial sex workers. Other countries that were discussed included Kenya, Ghana, and the Philippines. We also learned that no matter where EngenderHealth is working, programs are developed with three goals in mind: working with the community to increase demand for health services, working with the government to remove policy and systems barriers, and building capacity within the country’s Department of Health. The organization also has a domestic program, focused in Austin, Texas, on teen pregnancy prevention. Beyond the country-specific programs, we also learned that there are a number of programs that span several countries.
EngenderHealth’s organizational structure reflects the fact that it truly is a global entity. The organization has about 500 staff members in total, 100 of whom work in the U.S. and 400 of whom work abroad, on location. We spent a good bit of time discussing the “Business Development” aspect of their work. Although “fundraising” is not what most public health students might consider as a desirable career prospect, our discussion about the extensive knowledge required to create proposals and seek funding, as well as the overwhelming importance of this work, made it sound incredibly valuable and altered my perception of this type of position. We discussed the “capture” mentality of EngenderHealth’s Business Development branch, which is an operating plan that addresses everything that must be considered in creating proposals for funding. These considerations include understanding the donors’ hopes for impact, a given country’s government’s policies and hopes for change, regional demographics, what other agencies are doing in that area, and gaps in services. Based on all of this, it is then a huge task to develop a plan for staffing, partnerships, and financing/budgeting—all for a proposal that may or may not be accepted. This was a very realistic and in-depth discussion of how non-profit organizations receive the funding that they depend on in order to function.
Lastly, we discussed the interesting struggle for marketing and brand recognition in an organization such as EngenderHealth. The organization’s dilemma is that it truly is an expert in the field, but as an international group that does not have a strong presence in the U.S., fewer people here know about all the great work it does—despite the fact that in regions where it works, EngenderHealth is often a household name. The organization’s role as a technical advisor is more invisible, albeit incredibly important, than an organization such as Planned Parenthood that has many established clinical locations.
Overall this visit was very useful in teaching us all about EngenderHealth and what it does, as well as providing us with an in-depth understanding of what it might be like to work for a global health NGO.
NYU Public Health Professions and Practice 