Strengthening Public Policy and Private Participation

Besaida, Amarilis, Fran, and Odabia are health care workers in clinics supported by the Foundation in communities and towns in the state of Sucre. Once a month, they come to Cumaná to receive materials needed to operate their clinics.

When the Turimiquire Foundation began in 1997, family planning services in the State of Sucre were virtually defunct after years of neglect. Despite the immense need for family planning, many local public health officials did not consider elective family planning to be an important element in their reproductive health agenda — even though it is a stated Venezuelan health policy goal and widely regarded as a “best buy” for public health.

As the only reproductive health and family planning NGO in the State of Sucre, the Turimiquire Foundation has worked diligently with government and private partners to reverse this trend. Over the years, we have significantly influenced reproductive health policy to prioritize family planning in the Turimiquire region. We have shown that the power of successful example can be a compelling influence on public policy makers. Our accomplishments include:

Providing more than 62,000 women, adolescents, and families with reproductive health education and family planning services
Facilitating several large State-funded purchases of contraceptives
Increasing active government support of family planning
Delivering training, resources, and equipment to public health staff and institutions
Collaborating with dozens of community organizations and student groups to promote reproductive health education
Working with the private sector to offer affordable family planning, including laparoscopic tubal sterilizations

Board members of the Turimiquire Foundation have more than 30 years of active participation in our community. This wealth of experience allows us to work behind the scenes to connect people to the services they need. We do not introduce our own agendas or import external structures. Instead, we help Venezuela’s existing health care and education organizations — both public and private — meet their own internally-defined goals of providing more and better services to low-income families.

In reproductive health, we work with a number of public and private health care agencies, including the National Ministry of Health and several private clinics.

In education and sustainable livelihood, we work with community groups, local schools, and the National Ministry of Education.

Turimiquire Foundation: A History of Achievements: Download as PDF