Promoting universal access has been the hallmark of IPPF's work across the globe even before this became a watchword at Cairo in 1994. But the principle was getting diluted as IPPF's MAs struggled in resource poor settings to reach out to the poorest of the poor. Over a period of a decade, user charges had to be introduced; quality of care standards had to be introduced and maintained and the profile of clients was changing. Were we still servingthe poor and the needy? It was with this concern that the CoE on access was conceived.

While addressing the parameters evolved for all centers of excellence, this CoE includes two interesting innovations integrated into the work of the MAs in Bangladesh and Pakistan:

Deprivation Ranking: This would help ensure that access is promoted to the most deprived. In the context deprivation is not being considered from the point of view of wealth, instead it is being looked at in terms of gender, HIV/AIDS and sexual orientation.

Social Audit: This would promote the concept of participatory development. Partnerships are being established with NGOs, grassroots government institutions, and through a process of audit questions focused on capacity building solutions to improve access, not from the perspective of the service providers alone, but also from the perspective of the communities that were served.

An interesting sphere of influence is being considered by the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh. it is none other than the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of the country where a lot of these discussions on social audit may find a space. The impact on programmes and consequently on lives and livelihoods could be enormous. As a pilot, some work in this area has already been started by IPPF SARO in India. Two workshops on gender issues in national audit have been conducted for senior officials of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a structured training module on gender and rights has been prepared in close collaboration with this sphere of influence and this will now get further enriched as social audit processes move and progress in the region.