USAID/Haiti Uses Co-Creation to Improve Health Service Delivery

To respond to the country's challenges and using the concept of Co-creation, the USAID/Haiti Health Office brought stakeholders together to collaboratively design solutions for the development challenges of an Improved Health Service Delivery (IHSD) program. From 2020 through 2022, USAID collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to revamp its IHSD program using a brand-new Co-creation approach. This approach addressed expanding access to health services to underserved communities through integrated facility and community health work. The Ministry of Health (MOH), private sector, local organizations, and faith-based organizations were all engaged to ensure local needs were represented while aligning with the most up-to-date research and best practices for delivering affordable and quality health services.

A health system requires the buy-in from the government, local leaders, communities, private sector, and more. USAID funds over 60 percent of health services in Haiti. This unsustainable model needs more local buy-in for the health system to operate beyond donor dependence. Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) and Co-creation approaches can empower local actors to drive USAID programming, ensure long term sustainability, and transition to local stakeholders.

Using all CLA subcomponents, in particular, collaborating and process, the Co-creation process led to two awards: the IHSD Integrated Health Resilience Activity project and the IHSD Partnerships for Equity in Health project. Both projects included new local partners and will increase local organizations’ capacity and their transition to direct USAID funding as well as increase availability and quality of primary health care services in 170 health facilities throughout all 10 departments in Haiti.