Social sector

Relations between states and non-state providers in fragile states occur within specific complex political and economic contexts. Moreover, donor approaches to specific fragile states shape the flow and priorities of aid resources. In the health sector, fragile states have dramatically poor health outcomes, with higher mortality and morbidity rates than other low-income, relatively stable states.

This viewpoint uses evaluation reports from Nepal, Afghanistan, and Yemen in order to learn lessons about how donors and governments can work more effectively with non-state actors to deliver education in fragile states. The evaluation framework draws on the Development Assistance Committee principles for good international engagement in fragile states.

In August 2007, the Government of Tanzania committed to doubling the number of training places for skilled midwives following a five-year campaign by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Tanzania (WRATZ), which culminated in the first television screening of a participatory film, ‘Play Your Part’. With contributions from a range of health professionals, communities, a pop singer, and the Minister of Health, the message was that everyone at every level has a part to play in saving mothers’ lives.

This article argues that the integration of women in population development initiatives were largely the outcome of four overlapping historical events: the decolonisation of the South; the population ‘explosion’ following World War II; the momentous developments in contraceptive technology; and the re-emergence of women’s movements in the North. These developments pushed women to the forefront of development initiatives, in part because of lingering assumptions that population size is associated with poverty.