Communities Taking Charge of Their Health: The India Local Initiatives Program
The India Local Initiatives Program (LIP) has extended reproductive and child health services to thousands of poor and underserved women, men, and children in three regions of India. Working with three partner organizations, India-LIP helped communities manage their own health services. This booklet tells the story of this inspiring program: its beginnings, implementation, successes, and prospects for continuing to help some of India’s poor achieve better health.
In just three years, India-LIP took root and grew beyond the expectations of any of the partner organizations. Based on a model of community-based care from Bangladesh and Indonesia, India-LIP fosters local decision-making, strengthens systems to deliver services, and links partners to local structures for support. Communities embraced and championed the program, transforming it from an NGO-driven initiative to a community-driven one.