Community Engagement and Civil Society Strengthening
Community Engagement
Since its inception, HMST has placed communities at the center of its approach to improving health outcomes and strengthening systems.
We place local actors at the center of the process of developing recommendations and solutions to ensure their appropriateness. Across contexts, from urban centers to remote areas, community-led action has proven essential in preventing disease, addressing stigma, and ensuring that health interventions reflect local realities and priorities.
The determinants of participation are complex and context-specific, which is why HMST mobilizes multidisciplinary teams and creates partnerships with local and regional initiatives to jointly design solutions with communities, thereby promoting ownership, empowerment, and long-term impact.
Civil Society Strengthening
Since its inception, HMST has been committed to strengthening civil society organizations as key actors in advancing health, equity, and human rights.
We work alongside local and national CSOs to enhance their institutional capacities, governance, and strategic positioning, ensuring they can effectively contribute to policy dialogue and service delivery. Across contexts, a strong and well-organized civil society has proven essential in amplifying community voices, holding institutions accountable, and driving sustainable change.
HMST has had the opportunity to work with local actors in more than 30 countries, sharing our expertise while learning from theirs.
Evaluation of the Gavi CSO Host Platform
HMST was commissioned by Gavi to evaluate the current CSO host arrangement, focusing on governance, operational effectiveness, inclusiveness, and strategic alignment with Gavi 6.0. Using a mixed-methods approach, the evaluation involved document reviews, stakeholder interviews, surveys, and participatory workshops. Key lessons emphasize clarity in roles, resource adequacy, and stakeholder engagement as vital for improving the host platform's performance. Findings will guide strategic enhancements to better support civil society in global immunization efforts.
Organizational and Operational Diagnosis of Civil Society Organizations in West and Central Africa
SOFIA l'Initiative tasked HMST with conducting a detailed diagnostic of the organizational and operational structures of seven civil society organizations in the Central African Republic, Chad, and Gabon. Using participatory methods, document review, and field data collection, the mission identified capacity gaps and developed tailored capacity strengthening plans. HMST has been committed to placing civil society organizations at the center of its process to learn from them and provide them with the tools they need to empower themselves.
CSO Knowledge Mapping
HMST was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) in 2025 to draw on the knowledge accumulated by eight civil society organizations and numerous other key actors to answer two questions:- What are the most effective approaches to strengthen and support civil society to reach these goals? - How are donors facilitating such approaches?
This study was an extraordinary opportunity for us to engage with civil society actors to understand better how to direct our actions to maximize our impact.
