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Planning together: women, decision-making and health in Egypt

What is the best way to make sure women’s health projects actually meet the needs of the target groups? Does community involvement in the planning process make a difference? The Salammbo Group considered the effectiveness of ‘collaborative planning’, a process involving many different groups in the decision-making process, in women’s health projects in Egypt.

The researchers looked at a project to improve women’s health in Beni Suef, a rural part of northern Egypt in the Nile Delta. With the aim of bringing together a range of those involved with women's health, a planning group was formed which included government officials, members of the community, non-governmental organisation (NGO) employees and medical professionals. They considered the current state of women’s health in the area and the different factors affecting it. Then they began to look at ways of improving services and women’s health status.

Further information was gathered, in particular about the local communities, their needs and ideas. Using the gathered information the group members attended a planning workshop to decide the best way of helping local women. Participants had to decide on the practical details of how the operation was going to be carried out.

To help identify women’s health needs a number of techniques were used:

Health problems were sorted into categories to see which ones women considered to be the most serious.
Obstacles that prevent women from using healthcare.
A health priority scale was developed to discover where women and men placed a woman’s poor health in relation to other problems facing the family.

The group learned about the experiences of projects in other locations, including a community living on a landfill site in Cairo, crowded urban neighbourhoods in Bangladesh and rural villages in Indonesia.

The study found that the process of collaborative planning, which involved over 180 organisations:

resulted in less duplication of services
lead to new and creative solutions to old problems
focused the action of a coalition of NGOs on priority issues
created bonds between communities, NGOs and governments
built commitment and support for the project in the community
gave participants a better understanding of health and gender issues.

The study found that collaborative planning also builds commitment to more general goals. Men in Beni Suef involved in the project became advocates not only of improving women’s health, but supported the improvement of women’s quality of life in general.

Source(s):
‘Collaborative planning to improve women’s health: experiences from Egypt’, in 'Realising rights: transforming approaches to sexual and reproductive well-being’, A. Cornwall and A. Welbourn (eds), pp297-306, by C.R. Boussen and the Salammbo Group, 2002 Full document.

Funded by: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; USAID

id21 Research Highlight: 13 November 2003

Further Information:
Carla Rull Boussen
3 rue Moncef Bey
La Marsa 2070
Tunisia

Tel: +216 71 743 058
Contact the contributor: cboussen@salammbogroup.com

Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK

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