Our Work
Our approach
Myanmar Partners in Policy and Research (MPPR) believes that to provide long term solutions, we must link people in communities to those in systems, and those in systems to decision makers. Working with communities and networks of experts, MPPR strives to help strengthen the health system in Myanmar focusing on interactions between people on the ground, communities, and decision making bodies.
What we do
MPPR focuses on improving access to and quality of health care for all, particularly for those who are in less privileged positions. Whether maternal and child care, reproductive health, family planning, or HIV treatment, MPPR strives to hear voices from the ground and reflect them in what we do. There is a name and a face associated with all of our work.
MPPR focuses areas of research, project development, and policy development and advocacy. MPPR’s research include project and need assessments and other operational research. MPPR utilizes research findings, data, and programmatic expertise to advocate for policies and budgeting decisions that promote equitable health services.
How we work
MPPR's overarching goal of improving access to quality health services, particularly for the poor, is only achievable by addressing a range of systemic challenges that underlie the demand for and delivery of health care in Myanmar.
MPPR’s work to improve access to quality health services, particularly for the poor, is essentially linked to improving how systems, both a community and the formal health system, work for the people.
For this reason, MPPR’s work to improve access to health services is fundamentally about improving how systems-both a community system and the formal health system-work for the people we serve.
The formal health system can include standards and protocols, government priorities, facilities, medical curricula, staffing, commodities management, and other areas that ensure demand is met when services are provided. In terms of the community system, this can include the capacity of women and men to identify community-level, as well as individual health problems, address health risks, and coalesce around local structures and leadership. The relative strength of these systems can deeply affect a family's health and the communities' well-being.
Although the formal health system and communities form the foundation of health care in Myanmar, health system strengthening is often addressed in isolation from communities. While much governmental, donor, and NGO attention is paid to the formal health system of hospitals, health centers, and clinics, the attention to the perspectives of communities can sometimes be lacking. While MPPR strives to help improve the formal health system, we are always mindful of perspectives from the ground in communities, and try to connect views in the community setting and decision-making processes.
MPPR believes that to provide effective solutions, people on the ground must be connected to systems, and systems to people. In keeping with this conviction, MPPR focuses on six areas within health and community systems' interaction:
- Fostering empowerment and self-reliance within community and health systems
- Strengthening leadership of civil society organizations and community leaders
- Developing supportive policy and political environments
- Improving service delivery of providers and health systems
- Ensuring strong evidence-based decision-making
- Expanding human resources within health systems
MPPR believes that the key to success in these areas is strong partnerships, and has been partnering with a range of actors—from local community based organizations to the Ministry of Health—to help develop the underlying systems needed to effectively deliver essential health services. Our strong partnerships within both communities and the health system ensure that improvements are both effective and sustainable.
MEASURING SUCCESS
As we work for improved systems, MPPR believes that high quality data is essential to better programs, better accountability to donors, and a better understanding of what works. Thus, MPPR ensures to set goals and indicators, and measure outcomes for all that we do. MPPR collects data that are valid, reliable, and insightful for their intended use.