Description/achievement of initiative
"Securing Health through Safe Treatment and Other Initiatives" (SHOSTI) aims to serve poor and marginalized people in Bangladesh with quality services at low and affordable prices. SHOSTI clinics are considered the primary service providing centers for basic and necessary medical services, positively changing the socioeconomic status of the communities where they operate.
Implementation methodologies
1. Health Insurance: Under SHOSTI, there are three types of health insurance facilities available:* Platinum: No registration fee, 40% discount for family members registration fee, other services including laboratory 40% and 20% discount for member and family members respectively.* Gold: No registration fee, 30% discount for family members’ registration fee and 10% discount for member and family members respectively.* Silver: No registration fee, 20% and 10% discount for member and family members respectively on other services including laboratory tests.2. Capacity Building/Training Services: i. Community Medical Technical Education ii. Community-Based Nutrition Service Providers iii. Community-Based Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) Service Providers iv. Community-Based Eye Care Service Providersv. Community-Based Pharmacy Management Education vi. Community-Based Mother and Child Care Service Providersvii. Community-Based Nursing Educationviii. Community-Based Physiotherapy 3. Creating Entrepreneurs and Promoting Social Business: The unemployed youth are now taking the opportunity to start their own shops, with assistance from SHOSTI. Under SHOSTI, there are 350 grocery shops in each clinic area. Furthermore, SHOSTI has taken the initiative to promote the homemade, healthy foods in the market, which have created incoming source for the women and people with disabilities.4. Women Empowerment: SHSOTI has taken the initiative to promote the handlooms and food items prepared by the women at home. The majority of the women in Bangladesh are housewives, and this initiative can enable them to earn some extra money for their family. Besides, the project has taken up a social business angle to help female sex workers who are willing to return to mainstream society. Under this program, they will get training and in-kind support to start manufacturing products. SHOSTI will take the responsibility of marketing the products.5. Providing Support to Ultra Poor: The community management committee under SHOSTI identifies ultra poor in the clinic areas and register them. From the program, they get free medical services and capacity building training, plus in-kind support to start their own business or shop.6. Community Ownership and Shareholders: One of the principal operating strategies of SHOSTI is to involve the local communities in the management of the project. One of the strengths of SHOSTI is that Eminence gives the ownership of the clinics to the community. Thus, the community owners are involved in the project from the beginning, as they receive shares of "their" clinic. It is planned that after one year the shareholders from the community will be the actual owners of the clinic, although the financial and administrative management will remain under Eminence, and the monitoring and evaluation will be participatory from both of the Eminence and Community Management Group.
Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer
1. Training on Medical Education: Unemployed youth and marginalized women are being offered training on community-based health service courses.2. Training and In-kind Support on hand-loom and pickles manufacture: Female sex workers, women from marginalized groups, and abandoned women who are eager to work, get training and in-kind support tostart manufacturing their own products. 3. In-kind Support for Entrepreneurs: Unemployed youth can start their own shops with assistance from SHOSTI. Under SHOSTI, there already are 350 grocery shops in each clinic area.
Coordination mechanisms/governance structure
It is envisaged that strengthened multilateral consultation between a partner (Eminence) from a developing country and global partners will facilitate better co-ordination and accountability. The multi-sectoral nature of the targeted goals require truly collaborative and multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders focused on deploying effective programs/approaches in a sustainable way. A combination of partners with expertise in development, trade, consumption and production, health, investment, education and other sectors is expected to help to bring to the table the necessary breadth of skills to deal with the goals from all necessary angles. Stronger action plans, with robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks will be taken which are in turn likely to attract resources from potential donors. They will be encouraged to follow aid effectiveness principles in providing support for long-term. The strategic paper on Sustainable Development will provide the guiding policy directives for developing a collaborative approach by partners. Once the action plan of the partnership finalized, these too will provide guidance for partners activities at local level in particular. Eminence will be the hub of the coalition where they will act as the Secretariat to coordinate the international partners along with implementing regional action plans. Although SHOSTI aims to serve the people quality services with low and affordable prices, it needs to be self reliant to get sustainability in providing services. Initially Eminence will invest on it to popularize to the community. In doing so, Eminence has its own business plan to make it self-reliant. As of the plan, initially every clinic needs to earn an amount of BDT 200,000 taka in the first year. Then gradually the amount is increased along with the increased cost of the services and other related objects. Although SHOSTI is owned, managed and controlled by Eminence, it is planned that the ownership will be handed over to the community through selling the shares after a certain period of time (primarily after one year).
Partner(s)
* Eminence Associates for Social Development
* International Society for Urban Health (ISUH)
* Bangladesh Urban Health Network (BUHN)
* Population and Sustainable Development Alliance (PSDA)
* CANSA (Climate Action Network-South Asia)
* Global Citizens forum for Sustainable Development (GCFSD)