FHI 360 announces its Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action on advancing integrated development

DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FHI 360, an international nonprofit human development organization, will invest over $4 million dollars to explore the benefits and challenges of integrated programing through its Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action. The announcement came today from Patrick Fine, CEO of FHI 360. With funding coming from the FHI Foundation, FHI 360 and its partners will study if and how integrated development produces an amplified impact, and if so, to what degree integrated approaches are cost-efficient and sustainable.

Integrated development refers to an intentional approach in designing and delivering policies, programs or services across multiple sectors and disciplines to achieve greater impact. While not a new concept, it is seen as one of the potentially promising approaches the development community can leverage in the search for more efficient and cost-effective solutions to increasingly complex problems.

"Emerging economic, technological and demographic shifts are creating more sophisticated and demanding challenges and impacting development progress," said Fine. "Building the body of evidence to demonstrate when, where and how to integrate approaches so that policymakers, practitioners, funders and researchers can make wiser investments is a critical piece of our CGI commitment."

A team of FHI 360 experts recently produced a literature review that synthesizes current evidence on the integration of global health with other sectors of development. It concludes that, despite the large volume of integrated projects in place around the world, more evidence is needed to identify the strategies that have proven successful and to determine which are most cost-effective, in order to build the tools and frameworks that support them. The paper will be introduced at an FHI 360-hosted event, moderated by internationally renowned journalist, Femi Oke of Al Jazeera English, on September 23rd at the Harvard Club in New York.

As part of its CGI Commitment to Action, FHI 360, in collaboration with partners, will:

• Develop a framework and tools to facilitate better decision making on what, how and when to integrate approaches
• Invest in demonstration projects that will contribute to the body of knowledge on what does and does not work in integrated development
• Support the establishment of a global Community of Practice to ensure that individuals and communities working on integrated development are able to share insights, tools, strategies, approaches and other information
• Convene stakeholders to develop a common research agenda that contributes to the body of evidence that shows what works and what does not
• Develop an evaluation strategy that includes new metrics for how to measure the impact of integrated approaches

About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI annual meetings have brought together more than 180 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 2,900 commitments, which are already improving the lives of more than 430 million people in over 180 countries.

CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

About FHI 360
FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender, youth, research, technology, communication and social marketing — creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 70 countries and all U.S. states and territories. For more information, visit FHI360.org.

CONTACT: Natalia Abel, [email protected], 1-202-884-8018

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SOURCE FHI 360