Philippines
Marie Stopes International Australia has been working in the Philippines since 1989 and has a long standing relationship with our partner in the country Population Services Pilipinas Incorporated.
Across the region, Marie Stopes International Australia (MSIA) holds training and capacity building as a central tenet of our work. This includes our teams and also a wide variety of local beneficiary groups, government officials, civil society members and other stakeholders. Transferring the skills to deliver high-quality family planning and reproductive health services helps ensure MSIA delivers on our vision.
In the Philippines, our BlueStar network is a great example. MSIA’s affiliate in the Philippines, Population Services Philipinas Incorporated (PSPI), is implementing an exciting and ambitious project which has shown strong results in just its first year. BlueStar is a ‘social franchise’ operated by PSPI wherein independently operating midwives have been selected to join the brand, receive training and offer new family planning services to local women and men. These midwives were previously only providing birthing services and many had no clinic facility to call their own. With support from PSPI, these new franchisees have been given the equipment and capital they need to start their BlueStar clinic. After some simple refurbishment they now have clean and friendly premises under BlueStar’s strong ‘yellow and blue’ branding.
Most importantly, every franchisee has been taken through the following five intensive courses:
- Contraceptive Technology
- Family Planning Counselling
- Maternal and Child Health
- IUD Insertion
- Facility and Business Management.
Ongoing follow-up is provided by PSPI’s BlueStar team, with support from MSIA. A service delivery operations manual and clinical audit tool were developed and are being used to ensure that training principles are being implemented and service quality remains excellent – despite BlueStar’s low fee structure, which allows even those among the poorest in the Philippines to afford services.
This training package has taken an existing resource – independently practicing midwives – and added a range of high-quality, affordable services to their skill-set. With an initial launch of 52 franchises, BlueStar has made an important contribution to family planning capacity already. When BlueStar reaches its target of 500 franchisees throughout the Philippines at the end of year three, there will be a clear national impact.