Health Systems Advocacy Partnership: ACHEST activities in Zambia ACHEST activities will fall into three areas:- i) Creating evidence on which to base advocacy strategies through research ii) Developing the capacities of relevant stakeholders in lobby and advocacy ii) Lobby and advocacy for adequate HRH and financing and good governace. ACHEST Iception phase activities in Zambia in 2016 will focus on: 1.Establishing project management systems including governance, financial management, operations and communication 2.Engaging and introducing the project to stakeholders in Zambia through an inception workshop and face-to face meetings 3.Baseline and evidence gathering 4. Situation analysis on HRH in Zambia with special attention to the needs of SRH .5. Situation analysis for financing and governance 6. Mapping of SRHR CSOs active in Zambia. 7 Analysis of policy environment and data on status of performance of existing policies and initiatives. 8.Identification of gaps and opportunities for interventions in SRH and HRH ACHEST HSAP activities in Zambia from January to December 2017 Quarter 1 January - March Participated in a planning meeting for the launch of the joint HSAP Zambia Started the process of registering ACHEST as an organisation Held a planning meetings for a dissemination meeting of the baseline findings in the districts the study was conducted in. Quarter 2 April - June ACHEST trained and mentored Amref in Community Health Worker research activities. ACHEST took part in collecting and analysing the data in the Zambian context ACHEST Zambia reached out to the Zambia Centre for Applied Health Research and Development (ZCAHRD) country director, Dr Biemba and scheduled a meeting to discuss attendance of this very important capacity building workshop scheduled for August, 2017 in Kampala, Uganda hosted by ACHEST Uganda. Margarate from ACHEST met with Dr Biemba and information about the partnership, ACHEST Zambia and the capacity building workshop was shared. A representative from this organization who would attend the meeting was also suggested. A member of ACHEST attended the dissemination meeting based on community health worker research at Amref in Kenya Quarter 3 July - September ACHEST trained and mentored MeTA in their research on SRH commodities in August/September Held meeting with the Minister of Health on HR transfers- HRH distribution in general. This was a very fruitful meeting as information on the partnership was disseminated and possibilities for future collaborations discussed Held a meeting with Member of Parliament in September after interview regarding ACHEST work. This activity created a platform for ACHEST to lobby at parliamentary level for SRHR issues as the meeting established a relationship with some of the parliamentarians Quarter 4 October - December The highlight during this quarter was CSO training in lobby and advocacy. Held two CSO and Media Lobbying and Advocacy training workshops in In Kitwe at the Greek Olive and Lusaka at Mika Lodge. In November and December respectively. This activity was also an opportunity for ACHEST members to also gain more skills in advocacy and lobbying for evidence based policies, by holding discussions with these CSOs and media, and also share some information about research. 18 CSOs were trained with a total of 41 representatives 21 males and 20 females. ACHEST Zambia attended a meeting with Young Women in Action in order to get more acquainted with their activities. During the January-March 2018 period , ACHEST trained 15 CSOs in February 2018. The training was aimed at building capacity in research skills around Sexual and Reproductive Health among the CSOs and HSA partners. Of the 15 people trained, 6 were female. The HSA partnership held a meeting with the members of parliament. The main purpose of the meeting was to introduce the HSA partnership including ACHEST and advocate for HRH and availability and access to SRH commodities. In the meeting it was agreed that the members of parliament would join in advocating for SRHR