Evidence for Action-MamaYe

At Options, we believe in the power of local advocates to use evidence that can drive change and hold decision makers to account.

Evidence for Action (E4A)-MamaYe brings together grassroots civil society organisations, health professionals, government and the media. Together we are identifying the reasons why women, girls and babies are dying, and learning how to navigate the politics to influence decisions on how available resources can be used effectively to save lives.

These local coalitions change accountability ecosystems by radically shifting power imbalances in favour of more equal participation in decision-making through evidence-based dialogue.

Since 2012, we have worked in 10 sub-Saharan African countries to improve maternal and child health.

Over the past decade, E4A-MamaYe’s geographic focus has evolved. Since 2019, strategic regional coordination has been done from Nigeria and Kenya. We also provided ad hoc technical assistance for health financing in Francophone countries in which the Global Financing Facility invests.

Currently, the project works with sub-national stakeholders in three Nigerian states (Lagos, Yobe and Kaduna) and two Kenyan counties (Nairobi and Bungoma). In both countries we are supporting local advocates as they engage governments to improve quality of care for women and babies in line with the global targets on Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) and Ending Preventable Maternal Mortalities (EPMM) by 2030.

Ensuring a lasting impact

Our aim is to:

• Build resilient and sustainable coalitions that identify and promote priority reproductive maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health issues in target geographies.
• Enable gender transformative advocacy that influences policy agendas, government budgets and health services.
• Establish MamaYe as a sustainable, African-led project, providing demand-driven technical assistance to local partners to strengthen their voice and participation in health governance.

Sharing what we’ve learned

The E4A-MamaYe project pulls together key lessons from our experience working with local advocates and governments to generate best practice resources, also called Global Public Goods (GPG). Through an online GPG hub, modules, toolkits and resources are available to support other advocates and organisations to build capacity on evidence-based gender transformative advocacy.

We welcome opportunities for collaboration, partnership, knowledge sharing and capacity building with like-minded organisations. Contact us at: info@evidence4action.net