Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS)
From TrustAfrica wiki - African Regional Organizations
Centre for African Family Studies
CAFS Centre, Mara Road, Upperhill
P.O. Box 60054, 00200
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. +254 20 2731479 / 273 14 86
Cell: (254) (0)722 205 179; (0)733 601 756
Fax +254 20 2731489
E-mail: info@cafs.org
Website: http://www.cafs.org
Jacqui Muka, Director, jmuka@cafs.org
Aloys Ilinigum-Ugabo, Ph.D., MPH, Deputy Director and Head of Technical Department, ailiniga@cafs.org
Description
The Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS), established in 1975 as an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation–Africa Region (IPPFAR), is dedicated to strengthening the capacities of organizations and individuals working in the field of reproductive health, population and development. Since 1998, CAFS has been a fully autonomous institution with the mandate to improve lives of African families through technical assistance and training in health and development. To this end, CAFS conducts courses and provides research and consultancy services from strategically located bases in East and West Africa, with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a regional office in Lomé, Togo.
CAFS offers international and in-country training programs in the areas of Reproductive Health and HIV and AIDS with a focus on Advocacy; Behavior Change, Communication and Counselling; Management and Leadership; HIV and AIDS Treatment, Care and Support; HIV and AIDS Community-based/Home-based Care and Support; Community-based Reproductive Health Services; Youth Reproductive Health and HIV and AIDS; gender and empowerment; and, population and development. It also provides technical assistance services which cover training program design, management and implementation; program development and management; program monitoring and evaluation, and Institutional capacity building. It also conducts operations research, community surveys and applied research focusing on the African family as well as offer consultancy services in the evaluation of reproductive health programs, including HIV and AIDS.
CAFS works in partnership with the following organizations; CRHCS, GlaxoSmithKline, IPPF, MEXFAM/ICOMP, Packard Foundation, PPD, RATN, RCQHC, Rockefeller Foundation, UNAIDS, UNFPA, USAID, USAID Cooperating Agencies and the World Bank Institute. It also collaborates with various governments. CAFS continues to refine its strategies to effectively fulfill its mandate to provide quality reproductive health services. The donors of CAFS include GlaxoSmithKline, Packard Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, UNAIDS, UNFPA, USAID, USAID Cooperating Agencies and the World Bank Institute
Track Record
Since its inception, CAFS has cut its niche in the areas of capacity building for civil society organizations and government institutions in the areas of management and leadership, communication and advocacy, organizational development, research and evaluation, the intersection of population and development, designing and implementation of effective adolescent programs, training on community based services and service delivery in general. The organization’s area of focus has been the health sector with very strong emphasis on reproductive health and other areas of health. It also boasts a great experience in research and training including designing of specific modules and need based curricula.
Further, CAFS has vast experience in the area of Reproductive Health and more recently in HIV and AIDS since it has been working in the field of Reproductive Health for over 30 years and is renowned in it. More recently, CAFS has increased its products and services in HIV and AIDS and population and development.
Moreover, the organization has a strong team of highly qualified international experts and several associates who can be mobilized easily. The CAFS team reflects strong field experience in the areas of reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, population and development and a profound knowledge of the African social and cultural environment. The team has also developed a large database of consultants and is able to mobilise these experts quickly when required.
CAFS also enjoys a good reputation with its clients and development partners and its approach is hallmarked by quality. CAFS has been able to build a strong reputation in the field of capacity building as well as technical assistance in HIV and AIDS, reproductive health and population and development. The training courses are well known by various stakeholders for their quality. CAFS’ long experience in its fields of focus has also enabled the organization to develop and foster good relationships with key development partners and stakeholders.
In addition, CAFS has contributed to the fulfillment of people’s academic ambitions through its courses, which are flexible and tailor-made to suit the needs of the clients. It has considerable experience conducting in-country courses that are tailor-made and allow users to choose between formal and informal approaches to training and to customize the training materials. CAFS has alumni of over 8000 individuals all over Africa, who have attended its various training programs.
Finally, the organization has been working in many countries across Africa in the areas mentioned above. Some of the projects that it has implemented in specific countries include: Services for Tailored Training in Health Information Management for various formal and informal actors in the Health sector in Kenya; Training in Leadership and Management of RH Programs for MOH to improve competencies of officers in the Ministry of Health to contribute to the achievement of national RH objectives;, Capacity building in management of HIV and AIDS; National Response at Decentralized Structures with focus on specific case studies conducted in Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Burundi, Management and Leadership Development thus helping organizations to address Management and Leadership challenges at all levels of the Health sector; Country assessments to aid in Visionary Leadership in Population and Development Programs specifically in Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria; Development of training curriculum and modules including a self learning module and a mentoring guide; Building Capabilities in RH Management and Advocacy in various African countries including Sudan, Mali, Togo Senegal etc; Capacity Building Workshops; Orientation on Leadership and Management; and, Training of Trainers (TOT) in Community-Based Reproductive Health Services for the Tanzania Red Cross - Africa Women Initiative Project and Training of community based organization to carry out advocacy on reproductive health.
Challenges
Even though CAFS has marked such milestones, it still faces a number of challenges. A recurring challenge CAFS has faced over the years is the generation of sufficient revenue to cover all its operational expenditure. This is partly due to its reliance on grants. Over the years there has been considerable reliance on core grants. CAFS financial statements reveal that USAID currently provides an average of 12 percent of total income. This is quite significant as it means that the absence of USAID support would hamper CAFS service delivery. USAID has been phasing out its core funding in the form of grants to CAFS over the last three years from US$511,000 in 2002 representing 15 percent of total income to US$251,000 in 2004 representing 8 percent of income. It is therefore imperative for it to strengthen its financial base and become financially sustainable, by increasingly shifting focus from short-term to long-term project funding. There is also opportunity to its existing relationships such as the network of alumni across Africa to establish strategic partnerships that will catapult it to the position of regional leader in health and development by increasing its competitive advantage.
Competition from University-based training programs and Cooperating Agencies poses another challenge. To access funding from USA and EU, CAFS needs to be registered in these countries. The bids for bilateral funding are awarded through bids, which exclude African indigenous organizations to become prime implementing agencies. To become a sub-contractor for cooperating agencies is even a favor.
The organization has also faced the challenge of finding equal partnerships. When CAFS enters in consortium with cooperating agencies for bids, during implementation, the Centre is not considered an equal partner. Sometimes it becomes a subcontractor or it is not involved in some project implementation phases especially towards the closing stage.
Opportunities
Most of the training opportunities offered by CAFS are of paramount importance to many organizations working especially in the area of health, more so giving a human rights approach to reproductive health and HIV and AIDS. However, the cost is prohibitive in many cases and therefore many of the organizations cannot afford. Therefore, these can only be accessed through supplementary funding from donor agencies. It would be of great help if the course costs can be lowered through subsidies or arrangements made for full sponsorship of the courses as a programmatic initiative offered to selected organizations free of charge. Here is an opportunity for donors and sponsors.
Institutional capacity building would also help CAFS retain her niche in the light of the cut throat competition from universities. Perfecting internal structures and work output would also help the organization attract more funding from different agencies.
