The Immunization Advocacy Initiative (IAI) is a three-year project with funding from African Population Health Research Center (APHRC). The overall goal of the project is to advocate for government to increase domestic financing for immunization. This initiative is being implemented by SEND GHANA, Hope for Future Generation consortium (Ghana Registered Midwives Association, Socio-Serve & West African AIDS Foundation) and the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health.

Goal of the Project

To increase domestic financing of health budget with prioritization for immunization.

Outcomes:

Outcome 1: Ensure that financing to immunization in the Government of Ghana national budget is sustained every year.

Outcome 2: Ensure that the proportion of the budget allocation to immunization disbursed and spent in each financial year increases year on year by the Government of Ghana.

Major Activities for 2019

• Develop fact sheet on immunization financing in Bono, Eastern, Ashanti and Volta regions for stakeholder engagement.
• Present a position paper on immunization in national forum on sustainable immunization financing and coverage yearly.
• Conduct Review of analysis of 2020 budget statement and economic policy for stakeholder engagements.
• Convene CSO round-table discussions (National level)
• Engage traditional and religious authorities to champion immunization at the grass root level

Start-up Activities implemented so far:

An inception meeting for implementing partners, took place at La Palm Beach Hotel in February 2019.

The meeting was organized by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) for partners to better understand their roles and responsibilities on the project, identify their capacity needs and to plan for the first six months of the project. Representatives from the consortium participated and contributed to the outcome of the meeting.

A four-day workshop from 1-4 April, 2019 was also organized by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) to build consensus among the participating organizations in Ghana and to develop a national level advocacy strategy.

The workshop took place at Golden Tulip and was attended by representatives from the HFFG consortium. By the end of the workshop a draft Ghana Advocacy strategy jointly owned by all partners, including key messages, stakeholder analysis, timeline, activities and risks was developed.Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) workshop from the 15-18 April was held at Alisa hotel to develop a Theory of Change (TOC) for the IAI project in Ghana.

Also, to develop a MEL plan including clear outcomes, indicators, MOVs, Plan for data gathering, analysis and reporting. The HFFG consortium participated and contributed to the development of a MEL plan to guide the implementation of the project in Ghana. Two consortium planning meetings were organized during the period to plan for the first year of the project and also to outline clear roles and responsibilities for each partner. Targets and specific regions for implementation were all part of the discussions. These meetings were used to prepare budgets and work plans for the year.