OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO — The African Collaborative for Health Financing Solutions (ACS), an initiative led by R4D, has joined in support to the Health Democracy and Citizen Involvement Platform (DES-ICI Platform), a newly formed platform of civil society organizations (CSOs) working to complement government efforts to provide a coordinated COVID-19 response in Burkina Faso.
Simon Kaboré, Executive Director of the CSO, Réseau Accès aux Médicaments Essentiels (RAME), and one of the key figures in the DES-ICI Platform, is a close institutional partner for the ACS project in Burkina Faso.
Before the pandemic, RAME was working with the ACS project to launch a social movement for universal health coverage (UHC) in Burkina Faso. But, as the coronavirus reached the country, COVID-19 quickly became the galvanizing focus for access to health among the vibrant community of CSOs who were eager to help in some way. Kaboré saw an opportunity.
“COVID-19 made the importance of protecting and providing health for all extremely tangible and concrete for communities, and thus provided a real opportunity to mobilize their incredible capacity to partner in the country’s response to the pandemic,” said Allison Kelley, ACS project director and senior program director at R4D. “Burkinabe civil society rose to the challenge.”
With the support of ACS and USAID, RAME pivoted its work and began the process of mobilizing a community response to COVID-19, as a foundation for a longer-term goal of a building a social movement for UHC.
RAME brought together key CSO leaders and all agreed that a coordinated response was needed, resulting in the formation of the DES-ICI platform — the launchpad for the COMVID COVID-19 social movement (loosely translated as “Communities combat COVID-19”). A secretariat was formed and began holding regular virtual meetings on WhatsApp, Hangout, Zoom and Skype. The group agreed to focus on the following three areas:
- Monitoring access to health services
- Monitoring resources allocated to the COVID-19 response, and
- Analyzing the governance of health services
On April 5, COMVID-COVID-19 issued an online call for others to join their movement. In less than 24 hours, nearly 300 CSOs and individuals had registered to volunteer for outreach interventions in the 55 sectors (small geographic areas) throughout the city of Ouagadougou. One focal point for each of the 55 sectors was selected, and Citizen Health Watch Cells were set up and trained in each sector.
The Citizen Health Watch Cells are the operational arm at the community level of the movement, and their mission is to strengthen the national response to COVID-19. They engage in a variety of activities from awareness-raising to distributing vital goods. To date, the movement has funded and distributed:
- 2300 face masks
- 110 hand washing devices
- 110 liquid soap containers
- 110 bleach containers
- 55 hydro alcoholic gel containers
- 55 megaphones
- Communication units and internet connection for all 55 focal point supervisors
Beyond coordinating and supporting these community-level activities, the COMVID COVID-19 initiative is important as a feedback mechanism on the frontline experience to the Regional COVID-19 Response Committee of the Central Region, as well as to the National Coordination of the COVID-19 Response. In turn, the government is finding ways to mobilize the platform in support of the national response, through engaging them in developing a strategy for contact tracing, and as a distribution mechanism. COMVID COVID-19 is proving to be effective at bringing the voices and perspectives from the community level — especially those who are often marginalized and underrepresented — to the government, and holding government officials accountable to these people, and to their commitments.
Photo © Rame
This web announcement is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this web announcement are the sole responsibility of Results for Development and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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About the African Collaborative for Health Financing Solutions
The African Collaborative for Health Financing Solutions (ACS) is a five-year USAID-funded project that is driven by African experts and institutions that supports countries to advance toward universal health coverage (UHC) in sub-Saharan Africa. ACS is led by Results for Development, in partnership with the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, Feed the Children, Amref Health Africa, Synergos and RESADE. For more information, visit acs.r4d.org.
About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. For more information, visit our website at: www.r4d.org
