Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 01/2015

Strategic Partnerships to Advance Family Planning

Janet Fleischman, Cathryn Streifel

December 2014

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Abstract

In a region with some of the world’s highest maternal mortality, Senegal’s leaders are advancing women’s health and family planning. This has led to strategic partnerships with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UN Population Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, among others. The goal is to “reposition” family planning in Senegal and in the francophone West African subregion. Senegal is a main focus of these efforts, since it is seen as the regional hub and is one of the most stable democracies in Africa. The authors of this report examine the opportunities and challenges presented by these partnerships, especially related to U.S. policy, and what it will take to build the domestic political support and accountability to ensure further progress.