HOPELVB

HOPE-LVB reduces threats to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem degradation in the Lake Victoria Basin while increasing access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health to improve maternal and child health in local communities. 

“In these remote, resource dependent areas of the world, the interconnectedness between the health of people and the health of the environment is undeniable,” Sono Aibe, Pathfinder’s Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives.

"We are choosing to address population and health as part of a larger equation. We are making families more food secure, healthier, and resilient to changes in their climate," says Charles Kabiswa, Director of Programs of the Ecological Christian Organization.

Empowering families to meet their health needs and sustainably manage natural resources on which they depend will ultimately improve quality of life and conservation of fragile ecosystems.

In the Lake Victoria Basin, economic and social development depends upon the health of a shared ecosystem. HOPELVB improves access to sexual and reproductive health services while empowering communities to manage their natural resources sustainably.

With support from the MacArthur Foundation and Packard Foundation, HoPE-LVB contributes to the sustainable development of the Lake Victoria Basin and the well-being of its population through the integrated population, health, and environment approach.

The Lake Victoria Basin includes five countries where economic and social development depends upon the health of a shared ecosystem. Island communities are among the hardest to reach. They are underserved in terms of health and social amenities and are also poorly informed due to the many interrelated challenges.

This population, health, and environment project is an integrated, community engagement initiative that addresses reproductive health including youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services, maternal and child health and primary healthcare services, sanitation and hygiene, and natural resource management. 

Pathfinder works with partner organizations Ecological Christian Organization and Nature Kenya to increase community resilience through capacity building to ensure sustainable agriculture and fisheries practices, environmentally-friendly alternative livelihoods, gender equality, and integrated messaging that emphasize the inter-relatedness of the human and environmental factors. Measures to strengthen local governance, and the community development of action plans to conserve ecosystems, set the stage for the continued success of its integrated activities.

Pathfinder and its partners are currently working to scale up project activities through expansion to new sites, building capacities of other organizations to replicate HoPE's model, and supporting local governments to plan for integrated activities that will promote the model's implementation. 

After three years, over 16,447 new family planning users were recorded, 920 health facility-based deliveries were carried out, 366 community members reported having generated income from environmentally friendly alternatively livelihoods, 16 fish breeding sites were demarcated and protected, over 90% of households reported practicing more than one sustainable agriculture practice, and almost 100 champions at different levels were trained and now actively promote integration through the population, health, and environment model.

Video produced by Pathfinder partner organization Ecological Christian Organization.