Resource Type: Tool
Authors: Connie Paraskeva and Jeremy Kanthor
Published: 10/30/2014

Resource Description:

Civil society organizations (CSOs), particularly those working in the health sector, frequently seek opportunities to influence public health policy or share feedback on the quality or accessibility of health services. While these organizations may have important contributions to make, they often are not aware of the most effective and accessible entry points to use. Entry Point Mapping provides a methodology for systemic review and identification of mechanisms, forums and public platforms by which civil society organizations can participate in health sector policy formulation, program implementation, and oversight.

This paper presents an Entry Point Mapping Tool designed for CSOs with advocacy experience and public health officials seeking to expand civil society participation and contains a step-by-step guide for researching and analyzing legal entry points for civil society participation in governance of public health care facilities. Because CSOs have varied interests, the tool includes a series of steps for individual CSOs to determine the level of government at which to pursue their specific advocacy interest and the process of collecting targeted information on legally required points of entry for their civic engagement.

In addition, the Entry Point Mapping Tool offers guidance on analyzing the effectiveness on these entry points and coaches CSOs through the negotiation process of activating or expanding existing entry points, creating new ones, and winning overall collaboration with health officials on improving health policy and service delivery. This tool also documents the experience of CSOs implementing the entry point mapping methodology in Bangladesh and Cote d’Ivoire to demonstrate how the tool can promote increased civil society engagement on issues of health finance and governance.