The German Development Cooperation (GDC) works intensively with Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and networks in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) context in an effort to achieve both national and global health goals. GDC in the focal area of “Reproductive Health and Health Financing” supports the implementation of sector reforms aiming to achieve the MDGs on maternal health (MDG 5), child health (MDG 4), combating HIV / AIDS (MDG 6), and gender equality (MDG 3 ) by 2015. The goal of the German contribution is to improve equitable access for all Kenyans, and particularly vulnerable groups, to affordable health services especially in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health.Partnerships are critical to achieving these goals.

The collaboration with FBOs and CSOs in the last years has been in the following areas:

• The involvement and participation of FBO service providers in the Sector Wide Approach (SWAp), in Sector Governance structures, national planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and budget processes;
• The creation and promotion of FBO / CSO umbrella organizations as well as capacity development of FBO partners and networks- Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK), Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC), Supreme Council of Muslims (SUPKEM), and the umbrella organization HENNET in which all FBOs are represented;
• Especially SUPKEM and HENNET have been extensively supported in recent years by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German Development Services (DED) through capacity and organizational development;
• Conducting of studies and the establishment of a meaningful and appropriate reporting on health highlight the role of FBOs and CSOs in health care and of regional and international exchange of best practice models for government-FBO cooperation;
• The design and creation of a Memorandum of Understanding that forms the legal basis for the transfer of public funds to FBO services, which will enable the access of the poor to health care services. Progress in this area is a specific objective of the policy component of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ);
• The support of FBOs in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state and churches;
• The inclusion of FBO service providers in PPP / Demand-Side-Financing approaches, especially by the Output  Based Approach (OBA) and social franchising projects of German Development Bank (KfW);
• The cooperation with faith-based service providers in the areas of HIV prevention, Sexual / Reproductive Health, Gender Based Violence, Human Rights approaches, Gender Responsive Budgeting by GTZ, KfW and DED amongst others.
• The capacity development of FBO hospital managers by INWENT.

Generally, FBOs have positioned themselves well in the Kenyan SWAp. With the growing role of FBO providers in health care for the poor, technical and financial cooperation is bound to increase. In the next years the main objective will be to strengthen the capacity of FBO service providers in implementing the MOU and the Health Sector Services Fund and to support their participation in key sector reform programs (hospital reform, finance reform, amongst others).

This article was written by Dr. Klaus Hornetz and translated by Christina Frey in coop. with Michael Moeller