RILAN — ReachHealth Innovation Learning and Action Network

A family planning and reproductive health think tank

What is RILAN?

If we are to look at the statistics on family planning and teenage pregnancy, they present a rather grim picture of the on-ground reality. According to a report by Save the Children, teenage pregnancy affects 5.99 percent of Filipino girls which is the second highest rate in Southeast Asia. An estimated 538 babies are born to Filipino teenage mothers every single day, according to Philippine Statistical Authority (2017).

ReachHealth — The Family Planning / Maternal & Neonatal Health Innovations and Capacity Building Platform will help Philippine communities reduce unmet needs for family planning services and decrease teen pregnancy and newborn morbidity and mortality. In the Philippines ReachHealth has partnered with Villgro Philippines and is a USAID-funded program led by RTI International and is supported by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs and Duke University Global Health Innovation Center.

Our Objectives

Underscoring the importance of long term sustainability and the need to build upon the emerging local innovation ecosystem in the Philippines, RTI International and the Duke University Global Health Innovation Center partnered with Villgro Philippines to help build and grow the ReachHealth Innovation Learning and Action Network (RILAN) with the following objectives in mind:

· To foster both early- and late-stage innovative solutions to reduce the unmet need for family planning and teenage pregnancy in the Philippines

· To bring together key stakeholders in the family planning value chain and discuss pertinent issues that can be addressed through cross-sector collaboration

· To provide promising innovators with financial and nonfinancial resources to build and scale their family planning innovations

· To share learning and expertise by collating and synthesizing information and ideas related to the development, content, evaluation and scale up of innovations related to family planning

· To develop strategic partnerships to leverage further support for innovators and advance the long-term goals of the ReachHealth project at large

Virtual Roundtable Discussions

A series of closed-door stakeholder roundtable discussions have been held to bring together key stakeholders of the ReachHealth Innovation Learning and Action Network (RILAN). These roundtables aim to understand gaps and challenges in the maternal and neonatal health innovation ecosystem in the Philippines, examine models and best practices from other regions, and bring forth cross-sectoral solutions that can be adopted in the local context. Participants of the roundtable discussion have been key stakeholders in the Philippines and from a global network of professionals working in the field in other countries. These gatherings have served as an opportunity to identify and garner support from market players who are essential to the success of innovations in the market.

ReachHealth Innovation Challenge 2020

The ReachHealth Innovation Challenge or the RILAN Hackathon will be held on 24–25 October 2020. This virtual weekend hackathon to find solutions that aim to address unmet needs in family planning and teenage pregnancy. The participating teams will ideate and create prototypes to improve maternal health outcomes, meet mentors who can provide real-time guidance on how to further refine their ideas and solutions, and pitch to win. The winners will receive a cash prize of 1.5 million pesos and incubation support from Villgro Philippines to help develop and scale the innovations and connect with partners who can lend further support.