Increasing contraceptive uptake and reduction in teenage pregnancies among women and girls living in underserved urban communities.

The Gates Institute, through TCI, is committed to increasing its coverage to 140 million people over the next five years leading to an estimated 3 million additional family planning users and reduction in teenage pregnancy in undeserved urban locations.

In less than three years, The Challenge Initiative has demonstrated that its “business unusual” approach to family planning scale, impact and sustainability works and is changing the way business is done in the development landscape. With 92 cities implementing across four regional hubs (East Africa, Francophone West Africa, India and Nigeria), TCI is operating at full throttle. TCI is committed to providing urban areas with local government led evidence-based reproductive health solutions for those living in poverty.

TCI’s current goal is to scale up sustainable and effective programs leading to increased use of modern contraceptive methods among all women 15-49 years of age in urban poor areas, with additional emphasis on married and unmarried youth and first-time parents 15-24 years of age. After 22 months of implementation, TCI has contributed to a 36% increase in family planning client volume in its supported cities relative to baseline, which translates to about 488,000 additional clients. Based on its success to date the platform seeks to increase access to and voluntary use of quality contraceptive services and products among the urban poor and youth to cover a population of 140 million in Africa and Asia.

Mode of engagement:

• Programmatic action
  Through technical coaching and change management approaches TCI empowers urban local governments to provide family planning solutions in an effective and coordinated fashion. This includes demand generation, service delivery and advocacy.