Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Concerned Women for Family Development (CWFD)

last updated Sep 27, 2011

Overview

Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
1974
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
20-60% (lower to lower-middle)

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor
Additional Source(s) of Funding: 
Out-of-pocket payments, Revenue (e.g., interest on loans)
Funders: 
BASIC Bank, European Commission, Global Fund, Grameen Trust, Manusher Jonno, Plan Bangladesh, USAID

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
100<
Number of Clients Served: 
6,30,900 ( April 2001-March 2010)
Number of Facilities Operated/Networked: 
22 Clinics
Other Measures of Scale: 
Service provisions added: 4 clinics provides Safe Delivery Service and 2 clinics also provides Emergency Obstetrics Care.
Summary: 

CWFD started its activities as a Non-Government Organization by providing family planning services at the community level through one to one approach, face to face communication and door to door service. Gradually, broad based primary health care services including reproductive health care were added as per perceived need of the community.

Program goals/rationale: 

CWFD is a non-political, non-profit voluntary organization run by women of Bangladesh to support, promote and protect the interest of women in Bangladesh by providing community based health care, empower community to exercise their rights to eliminate social injustice, creating economic opportunities, empower under privileged youth of urban and rural population and develop human resources for a positive social change

Key program components: 

CWFD runs 22 clinics throughout the country and targets women of urban slums and other poor urban communities. These clinics provide Preventive Health Care service or Essential Service Package (ESP). ESP has 3 major components which includes Maternal Health; Child Health and Limited Curative Care (LCC). Maternal Health comprises Antenatal and Postnatal care, Family Planning, RTI/STI, Child Health provides Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) and Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI), LCC caters for basic Curative Care. Along with these basic services 4 clinics provides Safe Delivery Service and 2 clinics also provides Emergency Obstetrics Care.

Door step family planning service to clinic based maternal and child health services covers a population of about 2 million at City Corporation, District, Sub District and Rural level. Service Outlets There are 28 service out let of CWFD throughout the country which provides different services to the community people.

Program history: 

CWFD emerged from an emotional response to help women in need of reproductive health care counseling. The organization, originally named as “Concerned Women for Family Planning ((CWFP), started its voluntary activities in 1974 to help the refuge coming to Dhaka city after the devastating famine of 1974 and was registered in 1975 with Directorate of Social welfare. The organization formally launched its project activities in 1976 with only 5 female staff to cover an area of Dhaka city comprising around 50,000 people. Rather than following any working model, these workers used their hearts and logic to disseminate family planning information amongst poorest slum dwellers.

Initially, CWFP had a single focus program of family planning. Over time, the organization realized that mere improvement of health status through family planning would not sustain an insignificant change in women’s life in Bangladesh. Accordingly, the organization initiated new programs for women, men, children and adolescents encompassing primary health care, life skill development, creating economic opportunity and women’s empowerment against social injustice. In conformity with this shifting focus, the organization changed its name to ”Concerned Women for Family Development”(CWFD).

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