Publications by Theme

HIV Prevention Among Vulnerable Populations: The Pathfinder International Approach, 2008

This publication provides a background in the risks faced by populations especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. The document outlines strategies effective in prevention of HIV/AIDS among sex workers, men who have sex with other men, and injecting drug users. Programs described include peer education, comprehensive health services and quality of treatment, provider referral networks, and in-service training and sensitization.

Community Pathways to Improved Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Conceptual Framework and Suggested Outcome Indicators, 2007

A paper developed by the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG), advocates for a better articulation of community-involvement processes and for more comprehensive measures of outcomes of community-involvement interventions. Co-chaired by UNFPA and CARE, the group's active members include: Advocates for Youth, CARE, Pathfinder International, Save the Children-USA, and UNFPA.

Women's Empowerment in Ethiopia: New Solutions to Ancient Problems, 2007

This paper documents the challenges and successes of two programs in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and SNNRP that combine increased access to reproductive health care and family planning with comprehensive social change. In collaboration with partners, community and religious leaders, and medical providers, these programs have advanced changes in law enforcement and community values to overcome harmful traditional practices. Opportunities for girls and women to pursue education and income-generating activities bring credibility and inspiration to young women seeking new alternatives.

Reproductive Health of Young Adults in India: The Road to Public Health, 2006

This report describes the Reproductive Health of Young Adults in India (RHEYA) project.  RHEYA’s goal was to delay early marriage, increase the use of contraception by young couples to delay the first child and space subsequent children, and to reduce the use of abortion as a method of contraception. The RHEYA project model was groundbreaking in India in recognizing the necessity to develop messages and means of intervention appropriate to the specific needs and interests of young people at different life stages.

Advancing Reproductive Health and Family Planning through Religious Leaders and Faith-Based Organizations, 2006

Throughout the world religious leaders are looked to for guidance and advice on all aspects of life. Pathfinder reaches out to religious leaders to enlist their active support of various reproductive health and family planning initiatives. This report chronicles Pathfinder's work with religious leaders and faith-based organizations in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Raising the Age of Marriage for Young Girls in Bangladesh, 2006

This report describes a three-year pilot program implemented in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh. The program provided support for primary and secondary school girls, paramedic training to secondary school graduates, and created community support for girls’ education and delaying marriage through advocacy meetings. Over the course of the program, primary and secondary school enrollment increased significantly, while the incidence of early marriage decreased. 

Creating Partnerships to Prevent Early Marriage in the Amhara Region, 2006

In the Amhara regional state of Ethiopia, 50 percent of girls are married before the age of 15. Early marriage is one of many harmful traditional practices that are particularly prevalent in rural areas, along with female genital cutting, abduction, and unattended births. Pathfinder works in collaboration with local partners to prevent early marriage through extensive advocacy efforts, paired with community and legal interventions through its community-based reproductive health programs.

Promoting Change in the Reproductive Behavior of Youth, Pathfinder International’s PRACHAR Project, Bihar, India, 2005

The PRACHAR Project offers unique lessons in how to improve the health and welfare of adolescent and young mothers and their children by changing traditional customs of early childbearing. This report offers a detailed overview of the project’s successful efforts to reduce early marriage, to delay childbirth among young women, and to space subsequent births.

Improving Women's Lives in the Muslim World, 2005

Since the 1950s, Pathfinder has been at the forefront of introducing and implementing family planning in Muslim countries, and those with large Islamic populations. This report chronicles the history of Pathfinder's involvement in the Middle East as well as Muslim parts of Africa and Asia. This work has grown and evolved over time to meet the changing needs, cultures, and governments of these communities and regions.

CATALYST Consortium: From 2000 to 2005, Pathfinder International served as the managing partner of the CATALYST Consortium, a global reproductive health initiative funded by the Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Pathfinder supported seven CATALYST field offices in the following countries: Bolivia, Egypt, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Yemen.

• Creating a Movement for Change (BCC)
• Engaging the Media
• Mobilizing Religious Leaders