Summary

Program goals

BlueStar Senegal is aiming to overcome the challenges in providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning services to provide quality information and care to those who most need it.

Key program components

Social franchising is one of the ways MSI delivers family planning and reproductive health services to some of the world's most under-served people. The first three franchisees in our new BlueStar Senegalese network started offering family planning services to clients in the slum areas of Dakar, with a goal to have all 60 franchisees operational by the end of 2012. As of the end of 2013, the franchise reports 51 clinics or maternity homes. One franchisee who started providing family planning services saw 27 clients in a week - to which they administered 14 implants, eight IUDs, three injectables and two contraceptive pills. Months of training, meetings and information sessions helped prepare for the launch, working in close collaboration with local, regional and national Ministry of Health officials. Through our social franchising networks around the world we team up with existing private healthcare providers to increase access to high quality care. This works in much the same way as a commercial franchising operation. Our franchisees clinics, midwives and pharmacies pay a small fee to join the network. In return, they commit to our franchising membership standards and allow us to monitor their services closely.

All referrals, both within and outside the franchise network, are tracked through service coupons given to clients and recorded and tracked by program staff. The franchise rasies demand for health services through referral slips, word-of-mouth referrals, and community demand generation in collaboration with community health workers (through house visits, community talks, and sensitisation events).