1. Capacity building of Birth Preparedness Schools of Issyk-Kul oblast Gulnara Shabdanbekova, Instructor of Birth Preparedness School under Issyk-Kul Oblast Family Medicine Center Bishkek, 2015

2. Objective of the Project  To improve the quality of services for pregnant women, their families by building capacity of instructors of Birth preparedness schools of Issyk- Kul oblast, developing training materials and active involvement of the population and other sector players in Mother and Child Health

3. Activities  Training of providers and share experience of BPS not only in Issyk-Kul oblast, but also other regions of KR  Methodological work  Survey and expertise  Improvement of infrastructure and facilities of BPS, opening of new BPS  PR- activities (raising awareness about BPS among population, communities and key decision makers)  Own capacity building and retraining

5. Achievements (1)  Birth Preparedness Schools (Schools) are integrated into existing health organizations of the Issyk-Kul oblast  Schools are financed by health organizations and have paid rate for an instructor  Schools have positive image and demand for birth preparedness services is increasing (behavior is changing)  BPS are client oriented via: right to choose an instructor, type of course, time, and open door policy  Project experience is actively shared in other regions of the country

6. Achievements (2)  Standardized monthly reporting of school  Interaction between instructors of other health organizations to exchange experience  Due to lobby for Schools, infrastructure is improving, new school are opening and this ensures access of pregnant women and their partners to antenatal services  Instructors improved their training skills  3 new BPS opened in Ton, Issyk-Kul and Tup rayons of Issyk-Kul oblast

7. Birth Preparedness Classes

8. PR-activities (Promotion of BPS among the population)

9. Challenges  Establish network of BPS in Issyk-Kul oblast  BPS Initiative Support Fund (donor funds, charity, paid services, etc.), and Fund to Support Socially Vulnerable Women  Expand package of BPS services (School of Mothers (postpartum care), fitness, partnership in deliveries, etc.)  Develop quality standards of BPS services;  Lobby to include in undergraduate education (medical colleges) 20-hour training module “Preparation of pregnant women for birth” and pilot it in Karakol Medical College named after I.Akhunbaev