PUBLICATION | SEPTEMBER 2019
Midterm Report: Early Lessons from the Hewlett Foundation’s Principled Approach to Supporting Local Advocacy
By David Devlin-Foltz, Susanna Dilliplane, Rhonda Schlangen, Julie Tumbo, and Coumba Touré
In 2016, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation launched a new grantmaking strategy to support advocacy for access to family planning and reproductive health (FPRH) services in Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal: support vibrant African organizations able to positively influence their government’s FPRH policies and funding decisions. The strategy seeks to shift power towards the local civil society organizations (CSOs) doing the advocacy work and to strengthen their capacity to advocate. During the first five years of the strategy’s implementation, the Foundation is working with the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Planning and Evaluation Program to assess and learn from the experience of its grantees and the CSOs they support. This midterm report summarizes key findings and recommendations based on evaluation activities conducted in 2017 and 2018. The report is available in French and English.