Oxfam Canada (OCA) is currently implementing an approximately 60 million CAD portfolio in SRHR programming, which includes the Sexual Health and Empowerment and Her Future, Her Choice projects. These projects aim to empower women and girls to secure their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and to improve comprehensive SRH service delivery to adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). As part of a Research Series over 2020-2023, a two-phased research initiative was started in March 2021.

While a lot of research has been done on the ‘user’, or ‘client’ end of accessing comprehensive, youth-responsive, gender-transformative SRH services, there are less insights regarding the challenges experienced by providers in delivering these services. To address this gap, the research initiative aimed to gain a better sense of the ‘provider’ end: identifying potential reasons why providers may be facing challenges in delivering youth-responsive, gender-transformative and comprehensive SRH services, and how they might be addressed. Upon consultation with Oxfam country teams and technical partners, this is an area of particular interest and relevance in the national contexts of Ethiopia, Mozambique, and the Philippines.

ResultsinHealth was asked to design and conduct a comprehensive, mixed-method, research for the first phase of this research topic, which was implemented from March-November 2021. A literature review was undertaken, the findings of which informed a quantitative survey which was then followed by qualitative Key Informant Interviews. Sourcing insights from providers themselves, ResultsinHealth identified challenges and potential strategies for improvement when it comes to working with service providers and strengthening their abilities in addressing the SRH needs of AGYW. In addition to delivering a report presenting the research findings, ResultsinHealth developed a concept note and research plan to inform the design and aims of the second phase of OCA’s research.