Around the globe, there are striking inequalities in health status between the rich and poor. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will only be achieved by investing in vulnerable and marginalised populations groups including women, young people and people living with HIV/AIDS and ensuring that health policies take into account their specific needs.

The objective of Healthy Action is to empower East African non-state actors to advocate effectively on health issues by increasing their capacity to formulate policy priorities, monitor their implementation and hold decision-makers to account. In doing so, the programme will contribute to more effective and inclusive health policies, programs and budgets, and thereby ultimatelyto achieving health-related MDGs. To achieve these goals, the project focuses on the following key result areas:

• Strengthening the advocacy capacity of civil society actors in the health sector
• Strengthening partnerships, collaborative networks and coalitions
• Fostering functional dialogue between civil society and decision-makers on pro-poor health policy formulation, budgeting and implementation
• Strengthening the role of civil society in local decision-making

Healthy Action works on three levels: regional, national and district. At the regional level, the project works with institutions of the East African Community. At the national level, activities are carried out in the capital cities of Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala. Within the three countries, activities take place in target districts with high poverty indexes and poor health indicators with various levels of local governance structures in place. The three-year programme includes:

• Workshops with civil society actors in the health sector to build capacity in advocacy, funding and implementation
• Technical assistance and support to civil society actors
• Completion of national studies analysing health policies and budgets
• Establishment of a virtual network to support continuous collaboration and knowledge exchange
• Facilitation of briefing meetings, consultative forums, and roundtables with stakeholders at the community, district, and national levels to ensure ongoing dialogue
• A pilot civic education campaign using interactive community sessions, discussion forums, and edutainment sessions incorporating drama, dancing and film shows

The impact of these activities is maximised by a focus on networking and outreach, dissemination of results, and integration of cross-cutting themes. Results-focused capacity building concerned with implementation and action ensures that participants learn by doing and that these new ways of working are adopted and passed on toothers working on similar issues.

• For more information, visit www.healthy-action.org.