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The CARhs Group. Coordinated Assistance for Reproductive Health Supplies (formerly Countries at Risk) . A Workstream of the SSWG Kaitlyn Roche USAID/Commodities Security & Logistics CARhs Co-coordinator. What is CARhs?. CARhs is a forum
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The CARhs Group Coordinated Assistance for Reproductive Health Supplies(formerly Countries at Risk) A Workstream of the SSWG Kaitlyn Roche USAID/Commodities Security & Logistics CARhs Co-coordinator
What is CARhs? • CARhs is a forum • of key global-level partners who fund and procure of contraceptives and condoms • who share information • to identify countries on the verge of or in supply shortages, to better understand the causes of these shortages, to identify solutions, and to coordinate their implementation. • Founded in 2004; first meeting in 2005
Who is involved? Core members include UNFPA, USAID, DELIVER, RHSC, RHI. The World Bank and UNF / PGH participate regularly. Marie Stopes and KfW provide additional information on shipments as requested / when available.
What do we do? Primary data source: Procurement Planning and Monitoring Report Areas of focus: stockouts, impending stockouts, overstocks Services provided: Primarily provide product and product shipment information, occasionally technical assistance or policy advice Primary means of work: electronic data sharing; monthly conference calls
The Procurement Planning & Monitoring Report (PPMR) • Currently 23 countries • Data submission from JSI, MSH, and Abt • Report either monthly or quarterly • Report on different levels of the supply chain (central, zones, districts, all) • Varying number of programs reporting (public sector, social marketing, NGOs)
“Action Recommended” tells stakeholders how they can help. Date of next shipment, and supplier, indicates what shipments may create/resolve problems. “Comments” describe the situation. Actual months of stock and stock status
PPMR Database Upgrades • USAID has allocated funding for the upgrade of the database in 2011/2012 • Move to a web-based platform • Increase capacity for additional countries while decreasing manual LOE for PPMR management • Online reporting, ability to pull reports from web, quicker data availability • Document requirements & specifications to ensure transferability • Other features under discussion.
What does it take? • Over 200 days of effort per year, for CARhs plus PPMR • Monthly CARhs process requires about 10 days of effort across all partners including: • 2 days for Secretariat coordination of meeting, PPMR analysis, and agenda generation • 1.5 days for USAID to respond to requests; 2 days for UNFPA to respond to requests • 1 day for DELIVER to log information updates and disseminate information • Financial resources are also required - mostly from UNFPA/CSB and USAID Mission funds
CARhs Indicators - Process Met monthly without fail An average of 4-8 participating organizations per call 194 distinct commodity issues 86 information issues 108 action issues FY 2010
CARhs Indicators - Effectiveness Jan 2010 - Oct 2010 • Success rate on information items is 97.5%
CARhs Indicators - Effectiveness Jan 2010 - Oct 2010 • Success rate on action items is 63.5%
How CARhs Actions Added Value Jan 2010 - Oct 2010 • Average duration until resolution was 2 months, with a range from 1 - 7 months
A CARhs Success Story March - May 2011 • Nov 2010: Rwanda reported a massive overstock (67 MOS or 5.5 years) of Jadelle to the PPMR. • Feb 2011: Stock at 79 MOS & GoR agreed to a transfer. • CARhs identified countries in need & UNFPA confirmed Burkina Faso could absorb a shipment of 100,000 on March 3rd. • UNFPA facilitated transfer product, including covering freight costs. • May 22nd: Product arrived in Ouagadougou • Total commodity cost saved: $2.1m
Looking Forward: Opportunities • Transition of Secretariat from USAID to UNFPA • Executive Committee for high-level policy issues Increased coordination on annual orders • Additional countries to the PPMR • Recruiting participation from other donors who now support RH commodity procurements outside of basket funding • DfID, AusAID, Netherlands, France • Support the creation of regional CARhs groups
Looking Forward: Challenges • Decreased shipment visibility from UNFPA • Funding constraints • Building in-country coordination among donors, governments, World Bank, etc. • Encouraging country-led responses • LOE to manage additional countries • Addressing chronic RHCS policy challenges
More questions? Contact us! USAID CARhs Coordinators • Kevin Pilz – kpilz@usaid.gov • Kaitlyn Roche – kroche@usaid.gov UNFPA/CSB CARhs Coordinator • Joe Abraham – jabraham@unfpa.org USAID | DELIVER PPMR Coordinator • Trisha Long – trisha_long@jsi.com