Improving Development Practice

How can we better address the complex challenges faced by individuals and families around the globe? How can we work smarter and be more effective? How do we make a meaningful, lasting difference in people’s lives? To answer some of these questions, FHI 360 is bringing together governments, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations and civil society to tackle some of the world’s most complex challenges.

Does 1+1=3? The integration hypothesis

FHI 360 is convening global thought leaders for provocative conversations about the game-changing potential of integrated development and how it might better address the interrelated challenges around the world. We are also building the body of evidence to demonstrate when, where and how to integrate approaches so that policymakers, practitioners, funders and researchers can make wiser decisions.

Our research in integrated development includes a randomized controlled trial in South Africa to assess whether the integration of an economic-strengthening program with an HIV prevention education program produces better economic and health outcomes for youth. And in the U.S., we are studying how integrated approaches in Philadelphia have produced larger reductions in smoking rates, secondhand smoke exposure and lung cancer incidences than in areas that do not implement integrated approaches.

What works to address gender-based violence?

In partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Programme, FHI 360 gathered practitioners, researchers, donors, government officials and multilateral organizations for a regional Summit on Gender-based Violence in Bangkok. The summit, titled Breaking the Silos: Coordinating Approaches to Address Gender Inequality, Gender-based Violence and Rights in Asia and the Pacific, addressed types of violence, services for survivors and how siloed funding impacts the ways in which violence is addressed.

Through convening meetings like this, including our annual Gender Summit in Washington, DC, and through our programs that integrate a gender perspective to improve outcomes and increase equality among girls, boys, women and men, FHI 360 is working to transform unequal norms and behaviors, empower women and girls, and engage men and boys as partners and agents of positive social change.