Economics & Development

The objective of the Innovative Systems to Promote Integrated, Resilient, and Enhanced Responses to Women and Girls’ Health Project for Ethiopia is to improve women and girls’ health outcomes and strengthen health systems in climate-stressed areas. The project has four components. (1) Expand access to quality interventions for women and girls, including through tech-enabled care component will develop and implement a system-based cervical cancer prevention program using a community-based, digitally supported service delivery platform; Enhance HEWs capacity to provide quality care by establishing digital learning platforms for continuing education, performance management and certification of skill development, and capacity building to deliver basic preventive and promotive healthcare services for women and girls; Enhance service delivery availability and efficiency by purchasing and introducing portable AIenabled ultrasound machines for 500 healthcare centers; and Implement m-mama emergency response system by improving remote triage implementing a digitalized dispatch system, tracking patient outcomes using public ambulance and private taxi ambulances using the m-mama experience. (2) Improve service delivery through innovative interventions in climate-stressed and conflict-affected areas component will: provide renewable solar energy for 500 healthcare centers to provide adequate lighting in delivery rooms to enable safe nighttime deliveries for continuous service provision and avoid unnecessary referrals; implement waterless toilet technologies to improve WASH systems of 240 healthcare facilities in climate-stressed and water-scarce areas with high patient volumes; implement innovative environmental technology (Ecosterly) for medical waste management in four hospitals to support medical waste treatment and recycling; revise minimum design requirements for healthcare facility construction and renovation standards to include alternative renewable energy sources, digital connectivity standards, and materials to ensure facility resilience in times of climate-related shocks. (3) Strengthen data systems and reinforce decision-making to ensure high-quality care component will uild institutional capacity to implement health sector innovations, including integration of data generated through project-supported innovations; Improve decision-making capacity in big data analytics, modeling, and proactive surveillance using metrological, environmental, and public health data to predict the impact of climate change and design innovative solutions. (4) Project implementation and monitoring component will provide program management and implementation monitoring support, including supportive supervision of regional health bureaus (RHBs) and implementing entities, conduct mid-term and endline evaluations of implementation of innovative interventions that the project supports, including an impact evaluation of the m-mama emergency response, and omplement key innovations and sector reforms to address lingering women and girls’ health problems and accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

Digital technologies, such as digital payments or social media, have the potential to boost business growth; however, female entrepreneurs face barriers to digital adoption. EAPGIL partnered with the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank and the Indonesian civil society organization Kumpul to study a program designed to help female entrepreneurs adopt digital technologies and grow their businesses. The case study describes the program and its participants, reveals women’s experiences with the program, and makes recommendations for future programs that support women in harnessing digital technologies for their businesses.