West and Central Africa Health Policy and Research Organization for the ANeSA Initiative

The international community has committed to improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) through Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5. In sub-Saharan Africa, progress is slowed down by the impacts of emerging and existing infectious diseases, already weak health systems and pushback against SRHR.

This project will support implementation research teams in West and Central Africa by facilitating networking and learning, nurturing a community of practice and promoting knowledge mobilization and exchange across the full spectrum of knowledge users, including decision-makers. It will also contribute to strengthening the capacity of research teams to conduct gender-transformative research, generate and make available evidence on the implementation and use of evidence-informed gender-transformative SRHR interventions, and increase demand for such evidence by decision-makers. It will strengthen the use of evidence both to advocate for promotion of SRHR, especially among underserved women and the organizations that serve them, and to hold communities, governments and other key stakeholders accountable for the promotion of SRHR.

This project is supported through the Addressing Neglected Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa (ANeSA) initiative, which funds new implementation research projects that support the greater realization of neglected SRHR by underserved populations in sub-Saharan Africa.