• March 31, 2023

    Putting opportunity within reach

    Written by
    Tessie San Martin, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    While the pace of change around the world has been accelerating rapidly over the last few decades, the pandemic-related lockdowns that began in 2020 precipitated unprecedented transformations.

    Those lockdowns destroyed the livelihoods of those with the fewest resources, throwing global supply chains and economies into uncertainty. But we also witnessed the breathtaking speed of vaccine development that saved the lives of millions, and leaps in technology such as telehealth and artificial intelligence are making near-daily breakthroughs.

    There were breakthroughs in the international development sector as well, where organizations were forced to rethink the ways they provided assistance. FHI 360 has employed locally led development approaches for decades. But when we were cut off from many of our traditional ways of working, we witnessed how much local organizations could deliver and how much we could rely on them — frankly, much more than the sector had realized.

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  • February 28, 2023

    Advancing racial equity in Jefferson County, Alabama: Lessons learned from the Voices of Truth campaign

    Written by
    Ekta Saksena, Senior Health Communications Specialist, Social Marketing & Communication, FHI 360
    Van Do, Program Officer III, Social Marketing & Communication, FHI 360

    For centuries, art has been used to spark conversations and social change. And murals painted on buildings are a powerful way to both turn art into activism and make art accessible to the community.

    For the past two years, FHI 360’s social marketing and communication department has partnered with the Jefferson County Memorial Project (JCMP) and Kids in Birmingham 1963 on the Voices of Truth communication campaign, which is part of JCMP’s efforts to advance racial equity in Jefferson County, Alabama. The campaign engages county residents in cross-race dialogue as a pathway toward truth and reconciliation, digging deep into issues pertaining to equity, justice, community voices and more through methods such as billboards, conversation starter cards and social media posts.

    Recently, our team traveled to Birmingham — the county seat of Jefferson County nicknamed “the Magic City” — to witness what was just a dream a couple of years ago: a mural that encourages community members to own their voice, start a conversation about the history of racial violence in Jefferson County and be part of social change.

    Here are some of our takeaways from the campaign.

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  • October 14, 2022

    Easing the transition to lower secondary school: Promising approaches from Guatemala

    Written by
    Bridgette Springer, Program Officer, FHI 360

    In Guatemala, 81% of students complete primary school, but only 65% enroll in lower secondary school — the equivalent of grades seven through nine in the United States.1

    This is consistent with the global trend of high dropout rates among students transitioning from primary to lower secondary school. As students progress through the education system, physical, economic and social barriers to attendance and achievement intensify, and the trade-off between employment and continued education becomes more significant.

    The benefits of secondary education extend beyond the individual. At the secondary level of schooling, students develop the critical thinking and collaboration skills to participate in modern economies and democratic institutions. Secondary education also contributes to improved health, lower infant mortality and greater equality.

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  • June 10, 2021

    Disrupters: Strengthening health systems through authentic partnerships

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Strengthening health systems comes down to staff, stuff, space, systems and support. Whether providing primary care or responding to deadly outbreaks of infectious diseases, a holistic approach that places the patient and their community at the center of care and treatment is essential. In this episode, Dr. Paul Farmer and I discuss how human connection and authentic partnership should remain at the center of public health and human development work.

    Dr. Paul Farmer is the Co-Founder, Chief Strategist and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Partners in Health, and a medical anthropologist, physician and author. His most recent book is Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History. His positive approach to disrupting under-resourced and poorly performing health systems is simple yet holistic: Address unmet needs for staff, stuff, space, systems and support.

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  • April 5, 2021

    Disrupters: The future of family planning and reproductive health

    It’s been twenty-six years since the International Conference on Population and Development affirmed women’s reproductive health as an essential human right. In this episode of A Deeper Look, I sit down with Ann Starrs, Director of Family Planning at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to hear how new products, policies and practices are disrupting the family planning landscape and offering greater access and better outcomes for users.

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  • February 24, 2021

    Confronting dilemmas in humanitarian response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Wealthy nations are now fragile states. Climate change poses an existential threat to humanity. And, the damage done by a global pandemic is not yet fully known but has already erased a decade of progress in the fight against extreme poverty. We are living in a world where crises are proliferating and take much longer to resolve. Some never end.

    My guest for this episode of A Deeper Look, Heba Aly, is drawing attention to the many forces disrupting the world and the implications for us all. Heba is the Director of the New Humanitarian, host of the podcast Rethinking Humanitarianism, and a career journalist. Heba is questioning everything from the power dynamics in aid to the increasingly intertwined nature of humanitarian response and development.

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  • January 19, 2021

    Quality, not quantity, should define development

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    2020 will go down in history as a year of global health, economic and social crises occurring against the backdrop of increasingly catastrophic climate events. It is a year that defines disruption. However, as we jump into 2021, I’m taking a cue from last season’s development optimists to look for how to convert crisis into opportunity. This year, I will explore with my guests how they see us leveraging disruption for good in a post-COVID world.

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  • December 18, 2020

    Eleven trends that will shape the future of development

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    We started the 2020 season of A Deeper Look by discussing trends that are shaping the future of human development. Little did we know the extent to which a global pandemic would shake and shape our world and set the course for human development work for years to come. While many major trends have been emerging for years, COVID-19 has shifted their trajectories and amplified challenges in ways that are expected to slow — and in some cases reverse — development progress.

    Nevertheless, when I asked each of my guests this season whether they were pessimistic or optimistic about the future, I heard almost unanimous optimism and faith in human resilience, ingenuity and adaptability.

    This year’s conversations with leaders, innovators and humanitarians yielded valuable insights and observations. Here are some of the key takeaways from this season of looking at the shape of things to come:

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  • November 19, 2020

    The future of global development: The power of girls

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    COVID-19 has highlighted inequalities worldwide and is showing us that our systems — and the progress we have celebrated — may not be as resilient as we thought. This month’s guest on A Deeper Look podcast, Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), incisively shines a light on the strengths and weaknesses in development work revealed by the pandemic.

    Dr. Kanem is one of the great leaders on the international stage who speaks with moral clarity and forcefulness on sensitive issues of sexual and reproductive health and women’s rights. She discusses the many ways she and UNFPA are meeting this year’s extraordinary challenges and shares her views on the importance of continued progress on gender equality in the face of the issues presented by the global pandemic. Dr. Kanem sees this moment in history as an unexpected opportunity to engage a new generation in finding ways to address systemic barriers to gender equality and social equity.

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  • October 22, 2020

    The future of global development: The critical role of financial systems

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The sheer volume of financial resources flowing into and out of developing countries has exploded over the last two decades. To keep pace, international banking and financial standards have matured, requiring more sophistication in institutions that oversee economic systems. This month, I sat down with Andrew Spindler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Services Volunteer Corps, to talk about the evolution of frontier markets in recent years. From combating corruption and money laundering to mobilizing domestic resources, Andrew shares insights about the major factors and trends that are shaping development finance in increasingly interdependent global markets.

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