Health
At Gramin Evam Nagar Vikas Parishad (GENVP), we believe that health is much more than a medical concern. It is closely connected with dignity, equality, awareness, and social justice. Every person deserves the opportunity to understand their health, access the services they need, and make informed decisions about themselves and their families.
Since the beginning of our journey, GENVP has worked closely with communities to understand their health-related challenges and support practical solutions. Our health initiatives have particularly focused on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, HIV awareness, child immunization, and safe abortion, with special attention to people and communities who often face barriers in accessing quality healthcare.
Family Planning
Family planning is one of the important areas of GENVP’s health work. We believe that every woman and every couple should have access to reliable information, quality services, and a range of informed choices when making decisions about their family.
With support from Global Health Strategies (GHS), GENVP has worked as a lead Civil Society Organization in Bihar to improve access to quality family planning information and services. Our work has brought together communities, civil society organizations, healthcare professionals, government officials, local leaders, and the media to create greater awareness and encourage informed decision-making.
Our efforts also promote the importance of delaying marriage, delaying the first pregnancy, and maintaining healthy spacing between children, while helping families understand the different contraceptive options available to them.
Working With Communities
We believe that meaningful health improvement begins with listening to people and working alongside them. Through the Family Planning Alliance, GENVP has coordinated with civil society organizations working across Mission Parivar Vikas districts of Bihar.
Partner organizations and community champions have taken family planning messages directly to communities through meetings, discussions, workshops, and existing grassroots programs. These conversations have helped make topics that were once difficult or uncomfortable to discuss more open and approachable.
Community platforms such as mothers’ meetings, self-help group meetings, farmer group meetings, community gatherings, and Saas-Bahu Samelans have created opportunities for families to ask questions, clear misconceptions, and understand their choices.
Strengthening Community Champions
People trust people they know. That is why community champions have been an important part of our approach.
GENVP and its partner organizations identified more than 200 potential community champions across 15 project districts, with 30 champions receiving focused training on family planning. These champions then worked within their communities to share accurate information, address common myths, encourage healthy practices, and connect people with available services.
We also strengthened the capacity of 46 Bihar-based CSOs across 15 Mission Parivar Vikas districts during the first phase and later worked with 15 CSOs across 12 districts during the second phase. This network helped extend health-related conversations beyond individual programs and into everyday community life
Connecting Communities With the Health System
Awareness can only create real change when people are able to access the services they need. GENVP therefore works to strengthen the connection between communities and healthcare providers.
Our community champions and partner organizations have engaged with frontline health workers, block-level officials, district authorities, technical experts, and healthcare professionals to raise community concerns and discuss challenges related to family planning services.
These efforts have helped create stronger communication and feedback channels, allowing communities to share issues related to contraceptive availability and services with the appropriate health authorities
Advocacy and Public Awareness
GENVP also works beyond the community level to create a supportive environment for better healthcare. We organize advocacy events, awareness campaigns, workshops, rallies, and discussions with government officials, policymakers, healthcare professionals, local representatives, and other stakeholders.
We have also engaged with print, electronic, and digital media to spread accurate health information and bring greater attention to community concerns. By bringing different voices to the same platform, we aim to encourage better understanding, stronger coordination, and more responsive healthcare services
Encouraging Men’s Participation
Family planning is not only a woman’s responsibility. GENVP has worked to encourage greater participation of men and couples in reproductive health decisions.
Community champions have encouraged men to openly discuss family planning, understand contraceptive options such as condoms, and learn about permanent methods such as non-scalpel vasectomy. This approach helps promote shared responsibility and supports couples in making decisions that are right for their families.
Creating Lasting Change
One of the most meaningful outcomes of our work has been creating an environment where communities feel more comfortable talking openly about family planning and reproductive health.
Through repeated conversations and trusted community leadership, myths and misconceptions have been challenged, awareness of available options has increased, and more people have been encouraged to seek appropriate services according to their needs.
Our work has also helped strengthen relationships between communities, local health workers, civil society organizations, and government institutions. The recognition of community champions and the launch of the Family Planning Alliance in Bihar in 2018 reflected the growing importance of community participation in improving family planning services.
Our Commitment to Health
For GENVP, better health is not achieved through one program or one organization alone. It requires awareness, trust, accessible services, community participation, and a health system that listens to the people it serves.
We continue to work alongside communities, partners, healthcare professionals, and government stakeholders to make health information and services more accessible—especially for women, children, and underserved communities.
Our ultimate goal is simple: to help create healthier communities where people are informed, heard, supported, and able to make confident decisions about their health and their future.