The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Our providers along with others in the public and private sector worked tirelessly to adapt and innovate so that services stayed open, safely. From the use of effective PPE, to social distancing with clients, leveraging of government partnerships and a shift to remote service delivery models, our programs have rapidly adapted sometimes with only 24 hours’ notice of an impending lockdown to ensure access can be maintained. We moved reproductive health supplies as close as possible to the last mile before transport was restricted. Our response has been tailored and grounded in the local contexts, in line with national government response. In many countries, we have advocated successfully with partners to ensure that contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care are defined by governments as ‘essential services.' By doubling up with other essential services, such as immunization, food delivery programs, we have continued to deliver SRHR services, whilst maximizing health system resources. In Zimbabwe, MSI’s program integrated family planning into the local immunization program, ensuring rural women could still access services. In Nigeria, we partnered with the Ministry of Health to help 2,600 public health posts remain open and when sexual and reproductive healthcare services were classed as essential, the Ministry of Health granted MSI’s team members free movement between states, ensuring contraception and postabortion care were not side-lined by the COVID-19 response. In Nepal, we played an active role in a coordinated response between government, NGOs and multilateral organizations, to ensure continued access to SRHR services, even in the context of a strict lockdown. As a leading member of the Reproductive Health Sub-Cluster, a group led by the Family Welfare Division and UNFPA, we helped influence the swift approval of ‘Guidelines on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health’, which were then implemented across the country.