PRB

The Challenge

In the United States, more than 19 million women aged 13 to 44 live in contraceptive deserts—areas with insufficient access to the full range of contraceptive methods—and this burden disproportionately affects women of color. Key barriers to contraceptive access include cost, health insurance gaps, widespread misinformation and disinformation, bias, and health care provider shortages. These barriers unduly impact individuals who are already marginalized based on factors such as age, income, race/ethnicity, geographic area, education level, and/or exposure to violence.

Many of the barriers to contraceptive access in the United States are directly or indirectly shaped by federal and state policies. This patchwork of policies has created a tiered system that promotes or inhibits access to effective and affordable contraceptive care based on a person’s state of residence. Such a confusing policy landscape is detrimental to patients seeking information and care and to policymakers and advocates working to expand and protect access to contraceptive services.

Our Approach

In State of Access—funded by Arnold Ventures—PRB aims to create a tool that assesses the extent to which each U.S. state’s policy environment enables and supports access to contraceptives. To provide clarity to the confusing policy landscape governing contraceptive access in the United States, the State of Access Scorecard will compile and synthesize evidence on contraceptive access policy in two ways:

1. We will identify policy and program interventions that provide evidence in support of increased contraceptive access and develop a framework that gauges the favorability of state-level policy environments for contraceptive access.
2. Using various existing databases, we will populate indicator data into a scorecard so users can easily interpret and compare state policy environments for contraceptive access.

Impact

State of Access will disentangle the complex, fractured environment for contraceptive access and reproductive health outcomes in the United States. It will provide a comprehensive, evidence-based, nonpartisan, accessible resource that a range of audiences—including policymakers, journalists, program implementers, donors, and advocates—can use to propel their practice and policymaking.

The Challenge

PROPEL Health aims to improve the enabling environment for equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy development and implementation; health financing; government stewardship, transparency, and accountability; and the use of evidence-based advocacy approaches at the global, national, and subnational levels. The project focuses on family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) and the integration of FP/RH with HIV and maternal and child health (MCH).

To enhance resilience and sustainability, PROPEL Health prioritizes local solutions for policy, advocacy, financing, and governance leadership, technical assistance, and capacity development.

The project’s core team includes Palladium, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Avenir Health, Population Reference Bureau (PRB), RTI International, Samasha Medical Foundation, and White Ribbon Alliance (WRA). It is led by Palladium and funded by USAID.

Our Approach

We bring expertise in key areas, including:

• Providing high-quality, up-to-date estimates on key indicators on population, family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), environment, and gender for countries around the world.
• Supporting advocates to design and use evidence-based, politically smart advocacy approaches to advance their own FP/RH policy priorities.
• Equipping youth to drive change by identifying gaps in implementation of youth-friendly policies and leading advocacy campaigns to overcome them.
• Strengthening local media’s capacity in reproductive health reporting.

PROPEL Health website

The Challenge

Research shows that birth through age 3 is a critical period for developing a child’s brain and shaping their future. In 2015, early childhood development (ECD) became part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, as of that same year, a large proportion of young children were at risk of poor development in Kenya (45%), Mozambique (61%), and Tanzania (66%).

Knowledge of existing challenges and promising interventions to improve ECD in East and Southern Africa (ESA) and around the world is necessary to inform effective programming and policies that address poor childhood development. Researchers, topic experts, advocates, and spokespeople and champions all play an important role in ensuring that evidence is communicated effectively so that it’s easy to understand and can be adapted across different contexts and systems. To be used in policymaking and global discourse, evidence must be packaged in a way that is compelling and accessible for nonexperts.

Our Approach

PRB is partnering with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to promote evidence on ECD in ESA to improve the lives of young children ages 0-3 in Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania.  We are working with key actors to create and implement a strategy to share evidence around three priority themes: parenting, male engagement in early childhood development and adolescent parenting, and population-level measurement of early childhood development. The strategy includes developing key messages and recommendations to increase the reach, use, and application of evidence from the region in global programming and investment. To implement the strategy, PRB is helping build the skills of spokespeople to share relevant evidence and creating resources to help non-researchers understand the evidence and its implications for action.

The Opportunity

Regional planning for transportation, schools, housing, and health care facilities requires demographic and socioeconomic forecasting to effectively serve constituent populations.

This project supports regional transportation and housing planning for a six-county region in Southern California by producing demographic and socioeconomic forecasts, as well as current and historical trend analysis. Through the course of the project, PRB provides technical assistance to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) staff and their board of directors.

Our Work

Our work includes analyses and forecasts of demographic and socioeconomic trends affecting population, housing, and employment change in the region. In addition, PRB leads expert panel workshops to solicit input for the regional forecast. We also prepare documents for and give presentations to SCAG working groups and policy committees.

Learn about SCAG’s growth forecasting

With support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, PRB collaborates with African partners to generate local knowledge, build tools, and foster policy dialogue that position unpaid care work as a structural policy issue, anchored in national data, priorities, and realities.

The Challenge

Unpaid care work (UCW)—especially domestic and caregiving tasks performed primarily by women and girls—remains largely invisible in economic growth strategies and macroeconomic policies, despite being foundational to well-being, social cohesion, and productivity. Globally, an estimated 16.4 billion hours per day are spent on unpaid care work—the equivalent of 2 billion people working full time without pay. Women perform 76.2% of this labor. If current trends continue, the gender gap in UCW will shrink only marginally. By 2050, women worldwide will still spend 9.5% more time—or 2.3 additional hours per day—on unpaid care work compared to men. As populations age, the demand for care is expected to increase, leading to even more people—particularly women—providing unpaid labor.

The lack of public investment in care infrastructure means that women and girls fill critical service gaps, often at the cost of education, paid employment, and social protections. Recognizing the value of UCW is not enough—governments must understand its scale, economic and social impacts, and the policy choices it demands.

Our Approach: From Data to Policy Dialogue

Unpaid care work has historically gone unmeasured in official statistics. Through the Counting Women’s Work (CWW) program, PRB and CREG have collaborated since 2015 to make UCW visible and to link research with public policy reform. With long-standing support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, this partnership has produced groundbreaking data and supported change in national policy agendas across Francophone West Africa.

CWW supports the development and application of National Transfer Accounts (NTA) and National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTA) in countries including Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali, as well as emerging work in Kenya. These data systems allow governments and researchers to quantify how time and resources flow between generations—including unpaid care work, which is essential but often overlooked.

Our work has evolved from producing data to facilitating evidence-based dialogue among parliamentarians, ministries, and civil society. This includes supporting countries in integrating UCW into national planning, budgeting, and social protection reforms.

This is not just about data—it is about transforming how societies value and support caregivers, ensuring gender-equitable and economically sound policies.

Impact

• Policy Engagement and Influence: In Senegal, by translating NTTA research findings into actionable messages for decision-makers, CWW contributed to building the momentum that led the Ministry of Family and Solidarity to adopt a national roadmap for integrating UCW into public policy. In Togo, we support civil society and parliamentarians in understanding UCW and shaping reforms to better embed care into national policies.
• Strengthened Local Capacity: Following a policy communications training in West Africa, CWW led the co-creation of the Guide de dialogue politique pour le travail domestique non rémunéré, the first resource of its kind developed in French, in Africa. It equips stakeholders with methodology to autonomously use and apply data in policy discussions, fostering sustainable expertise.
• Collaborative Advocacy: In Senegal, CWW partners with RENAFETS, a union of working women, in engaging the National Assembly to promote quality childcare as a lever for economic empowerment, developing policy recommendations, a policy brief and scorecard to inform reforms aligned with the national roadmap.
• International Reach and Regional Tools: CWW organizes high-level webinars and regional technical workshops to strengthen national data systems across West Africa. We support governments in integrating UCW and demographic-economic data into innovative budgeting processes, including demographic dividend-sensitive budgeting (BSDD). Our work elevates African perspectives, informs international debates, and supports South-South learning.

CWW is more than a data initiative. We work to institutionalize capacity within governments and civil society, so that gender-equitable policies can be informed by demographic and generational realities.

EN FRANÇAIS

Avec le soutien de la Fondation William et Flora Hewlett, PRB collabore avec des partenaires africains pour produire des connaissances locales, développer des outils, et nourrir le dialogue politique afin de positionner le travail de soins non rémunéré comme un enjeu structurel de politique publique, ancré dans les données, priorités et réalités nationales.

Le Défi

Le travail domestique non rémunéré (TDNR) — en particulier les soins domestiques et de prise en charge assumés principalement par les femmes et les filles — reste largement invisible dans les stratégies de croissance économique et les politiques macroéconomiques, alors même qu’il est fondamental pour le bien-être, la cohésion sociale et la productivité intergénérationnelle. À l’échelle mondiale, on estime que 16,4 milliards d’heures par jour sont consacrées au TDNR, soit l’équivalent de 2 milliards de personnes travaillant à plein temps sans rémunération. Les femmes réalisent 76,2 % de ce travail. Si les tendances actuelles se poursuivent, l’écart entre les femmes et les hommes ne se réduira que très légèrement : en 2050, les femmes consacreront encore 2,3 heures de plus par jour, soit 9,5 % de temps supplémentaire, au TDNR par rapport aux hommes. Avec le vieillissement des populations, la demande en soins ne fera qu’augmenter, entraînant une charge encore plus importante pour les femmes.

Le manque d’investissement public dans les infrastructures de soins pousse les femmes et les filles à combler ces lacunes, souvent au détriment de leur éducation, de leur insertion professionnelle et de leur accès à la protection sociale. Reconnaître la valeur du TDNR ne suffit pas : les gouvernements doivent en comprendre l’ampleur, les effets économiques et sociaux, et les choix politiques qu’il impose.

Notre approche : Des Données au Dialogue Politique

Historiquement, le travail domestique non rémunéré n’est pas mesuré dans les statistiques officielles. Depuis 2015, à travers le programme Counting Women’s Work (CWW), PRB et le CREG collaborent pour rendre visible le TDNR et le relier aux réformes de politiques publiques. Avec le soutien continu de la Fondation William et Flora Hewlett, ce partenariat a permis de produire des données innovantes et d’influencer les agendas politiques nationaux en Afrique de l’Ouest francophone.

CWW appuie la mise en œuvre des Comptes de Transferts Nationaux (NTA) et des Comptes Nationaux de Transferts de Temps (NTTA) au Sénégal, au Bénin, au Burkina Faso, au Togo, au Mali, et plus récemment au Kenya. Ces systèmes de données permettent de quantifier la répartition intergénérationnelle du temps et des ressources — y compris le TDNR, souvent négligé mais essentiel.

Notre travail a évolué : de la production à l’utilisation des données pour le dialogue politique, impliquant parlementaires, ministères et société civile – incluant un soutien actif à l’intégration du TDNR dans la planification nationale, la budgétisation, et les réformes de protection sociale.

Il ne s’agit pas seulement des données — il s’agit de transformer la manière dont les sociétés valorisent et soutiennent les fournisseurs de soins, pour garantir des politiques économiquement viables et équitables entre les sexes.

Impact

• Engagement Politique et Influence : Au Sénégal, en traduisant les résultats de recherche NTTA en messages clairs pour les décideurs, CWW a contribué à l’adoption par le Ministère de la Famille et de la Solidarité d’une feuille de route nationale pour l’intégration du TDNR dans les politiques publiques. Au Togo, nous soutenons la société civile et les parlementaires dans la compréhension du TDNR et l’élaboration de réformes pour mieux intégrer les soins dans les politiques nationales.
• Renforcement des Capacités Locales : Après une formation en communication politique en Afrique de l’Ouest, CWW a codéveloppé le Guide de dialogue politique pour le travail domestique non rémunéré, premier outil du genre en français en Afrique. Il fournit aux acteurs les méthodes nécessaires pour utiliser les données de manière autonome dans les discussions politiques.
• Appui au Plaidoyer : Au Sénégal, CWW soutient le RENAFETS, syndicat de travailleuses, dans son engagement auprès de l’Assemblée nationale pour promouvoir l’accès à des services de garde d’enfants de qualité, comme levier d’autonomisation économique. Des recommandations politiques, une note d’orientation et un tableau de bord des politiques sont en cours d’élaboration pour soutenir des réformes alignées avec la feuille de route nationale.
• Portée Internationale et Outils Régionaux : CWW organise des webinaires de haut niveau et des ateliers techniques régionaux pour renforcer les systèmes de données à travers l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Nous appuyons les gouvernements dans l’intégration du TDNR et des données démographiques-économiques dans des processus budgétaires innovants, notamment la budgétisation sensible au dividende démographique (BSDD). Notre travail valorise les perspectives africaines, éclaire les débats internationaux, et soutient l’apprentissage Sud-Sud.

CWW est bien plus qu’un programme de données. Nous œuvrons à l’institutionnalisation des capacités au sein des gouvernements et de la société civile, afin que les politiques fondées sur l’équité de genre s’appuient sur les réalités démographiques et intergénérationnelles.

The Opportunity

While research often has profound practical implications, it must be communicated effectively to a variety of non-technical audiences to influence policy and programmatic change.

Current U.S. predoctoral graduate education is not designed to train researchers in how to communicate research results to nonacademic audiences. PRB addresses this gap with its U.S. Policy Communications Training Program.

The program prepares current Ph.D. students from U.S. academic institutions to influence policy and practice through effective communication. Participants learn to present findings on population and health topics in ways that are understandable and accessible to policy audiences, including decisionmakers, advocates, and the media. They will understand how research informs the policy environment, learn ways to communicate findings to U.S. and international policy audiences, and improve their ability to communicate in written and verbal formats.

The program’s main goal is to expand the cadre of U.S. population research professionals committed to policy communication. Its objectives are to: (1) address barriers that researchers face in communicating population-related research results to policy audiences; (2) engage a diverse group of predoctoral students (future population professionals) in policy communication over their careers; and (3) teach population scientists about the process by which research informs the policy environment, how to identify and communicate the policy implications of their research, and various tools/skills for communicating findings to U.S. policy audiences.

Our Approach

The U.S. Policy Communications Training Program consists of two components.

1. Workshop: A week-long summer workshop in Washington, D.C., focuses on the role of research in the U.S. policymaking process and on techniques for effective communication of research findings to U.S. decisionmakers, media, and non-technical audiences. Participants hear firsthand from congressional researchers, lobbyists, and others about their experiences using research to effect change. They also practice distilling policy-relevant messages from their research and communicating this information in nontechnical language.
2. Practicum: During the academic year following the workshop, participants receive mentorship and apply lessons learned to create two policy communication products, such as a policy brief, blog post, web article, or op-ed, based on their dissertations or related research topics.

The Impact

PRB has trained nearly 100 Ph.D. students enrolled in reputable U.S. academic institutions and conducting research on population and health topics to communicate with U.S. policy audiences, including government decisionmakers, advocates, and the media, since 2015.

Make an Application

The 2023 training program awards were announced in April 2023. The announcement for future training programs will be made on the PRB website.

Applicants submitted the following to PRB:

• A completed application form.
• An up-to-date resume with a full list of educational and other professional activities.
• Two letters of reference sent directly from the person writing the reference.

The Work

HP+ focuses on strengthening and advancing health policy priorities in family planning and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and maternal and newborn health at global, national, and subnational levels, expanding the efforts of prior U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) investments from the Health Policy Project (HPP).

HP+ works in more than 17 countries and aims to improve the enabling environment for equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy development and implementation, with an emphasis on voluntary health programs, and by strengthening in-country partners’ capacity to navigate complex environments for effective policy design, implementation, and financing. Taken together, evidence-based inclusive policies, more sustainable health financing, improved governance, and stronger global leadership and advocacy will lead to improved health outcomes worldwide.

HP+ is funded by USAID and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It is implemented by a multidimensional, complementary team led by Palladium.

Our Approach

PRB brings our core strengths in communicating technical health information to the project. Specifically, we work to:

• Train decisionmakers, advocates, and researchers on how to better understand, communicate, and use health data in decisionmaking.
• Create easy-to-understand, compelling communication materials for national and subnational decisionmakers and implementers to ensure awareness of and prompt action on national policies addressing sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Materials have included videos, social media clips, factsheets, media toolkits, ENGAGE multimedia presentations, and reports.
• Train and mentor journalists with an aim to increase and improve news coverage on the links between family planning and development, and hold governments accountable for their commitments to family planning.
• Work with youth advocates and youth journalists to strengthen their capacity to participate in the decisionmaking processes as champions, raise community awareness about youth-related SRH policies, and hold governments and providers accountable for providing high-quality, youth-friendly SRH services.

Explore HP+

Impact

Building the Capacity of Young Leaders in Malawi

After training from HP+, youth reporters and radio listening club members produced weekly radio programs about youth reproductive health topics in several districts across Malawi. In one example, in 2020 a program on Nkhotakota Radio urged pregnant teenagers to get an HIV test to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their babies. Within two weeks of the program airing, an additional 40 pregnant teenagers had visited the District Health Office for HIV tests. Since receiving their training, some youth participants have led youth organizations that lobby local and regional leaders on issues important to youth, including health and education.

Policy and Advocacy Training for Young People in Malawi

In 2018, HP+ conducted policy and advocacy training in Malawi to amplify the voices of young adults working on issues related to youth-friendly health services. A short video presents the voices of three youth champions (also featured in the HP+ 2019 World Population Day blog) who attended the training and are continuing to work in various ways to inspire and educate youth in their communities.

Effectively Communicating Health Data on Women in Mali

Although Mali has ratified most major international and regional human rights treaties, and its constitution defends women’s rights, the country has yet to formally pass a law criminalizing gender-based violence (GBV). HP+ worked with Mali’s Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and Families and its National Control Program Against Excision to develop advocacy tools, including infographics, for key decisionmakers and the media to spur political will to pass the GBV law. The advocacy materials (in French) include key data and information on GBV, child marriage, and female genital cutting in Mali. They also provide actions that policymakers and the media can take to advocate for a stronger legal and regulatory environment to support voluntary, equitable, rights-based programs.

Understanding and Communicating Young People’s Needs for Malawi’s Decisionmakers

In Malawi, strategic and multisectoral investments in youth are critical pieces of national growth and development. Growing Together: Multisectoral Investments in Malawi’s Youth is an ENGAGE™ multimedia presentation that describes the necessary investments in young people’s health, education, employment opportunities, and participation in governance that can create a window of opportunity for accelerated economic development. The presentation’s goal is to build awareness of the overlapping needs and priorities of multiple sectors and increase support for cross-sectoral investments in Malawi’s young people. To achieve this goal, the presentation is designed to boost individuals’ understanding of the links between and among young peoples’ health, education, employment, and meaningful participation in governance, and how investments in each of these sectors can contribute to Malawi’s growth and development. The ENGAGE is available in English and Chichewa.

The Challenge

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic respiratory diseases have become the world’s leading causes of death, accounting for 70% of all deaths globally in 2015. Compared to high-income countries, NCDs in lower-income countries generally claim lives at younger ages, often at the peak of individuals’ economic productivity. NCDs pose a significant threat to the health and well-being of populations, economic growth, and sustainable development, especially in low- and middle-income countries, underscoring the importance of prioritizing their prevention.

Our Approach

The four main NCDs share four risk factors: tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet. These risk factors are all modifiable behaviors typically initiated or established during adolescence or young adulthood, setting the stage for NCDs later in life. Preventing or reducing risk behaviors among youth today can minimize the future burden of the growing NCD epidemic. Under this project, PRB created products that underscore the opportunity that low- and middle-income countries have to curb rising NCD epidemics. PRB also conducted policy communication training for youth advocates working on this health issue, and journalist training to improve the quantity and quality of reporting on the matter.

PRB has been a long-term partner to the U.S. Census Bureau, helping to inform policymakers, the media, and the public about the importance of data from the decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS). Under this project, we work in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau to:

• Manage activities for an ACS Data Users Group and Online Community.
• Organize ACS Data Users Conferences, workshops, and sessions and professional meetings.
• Develop ACS training materials to help data users access and understand ACS data products and applications.

These activities have facilitated communication about decennial census and ACS issues and applications among a broad group of data users, as well as between data users and the Census Bureau.

ACS Data Users Group

PRB established an ACS Data Users Group to improve understanding of the value and utility of ACS data and to promote information sharing about key ACS data issues and applications. To facilitate communication among data users, we maintain an ACS Online Community and organize webinars and special sessions at professional meetings. Membership in the group is free. It is led by a Steering Committee that represents a broad spectrum of ACS data users with different interests.

ACS Data Users Conferences

We have organized six ACS Data Users Conferences in partnership with the Census Bureau. More than 700 ACS data users attended the hybrid 2023 ACS Data Users Conference, held May 16-18, 2023, in Washington, DC.  The program brought together more than 50 contributed presentations by ACS data users, invited sessions with Census Bureau staff, Census Bureau product demonstrations, and opportunities for networking.

ACS and Decennial Census Resources

PRB collaborated with the Census Bureau to write a series of Handbooks, Modules, and Case Studies for different ACS data user communities, including journalists, businesses, state and local governments, and others. The handbooks provide an overview of the ACS to help data users understand the basics of the survey, how the data can be used, how to judge the accuracy of ACS estimates, and how to access ACS data on the web.

PRB staff are writing a series of briefs that provide concise, reader-friendly information to data users about the new 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System.

We also developed resources to help data users understand and use the Census Bureau’s Statistical Testing Tool, Application Programming Interface (API), ACS Public Use Microdata Sample, and ACS Summary File.

The Challenge

Thousands of women in sub-Saharan Africa die each year from pregnancy-related causes. Unsafe abortions account for one in seven maternal deaths in Africa, and more than 1.5 million women are treated each year for complications from unsafe abortion. Young African women are especially affected: More than half of unsafe abortions in the region are among women under age 25. Reducing deaths from unsafe abortion requires a policy environment that supports women to equitably access comprehensive prevention and treatment services—contraception, safe abortion, and postabortion care.

Our Approach

The four-year SAFE ENGAGE project is implemented in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, including Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lagos state in Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. SAFE ENGAGE also contains a rapid response mechanism through which other national and regional partners can request creative, data-driven communications materials to support specific advocacy objectives.

SAFE ENGAGE

• Advances policy dialogue for safe abortion by creating compelling evidence-based multimedia presentations and other materials for policymakers, advocates, and journalists.
• Builds country-level individual and institutional capacity to use evidence for policy advocacy to promote safe abortion and reduce unsafe abortion.
• Works with journalists to increase the quality and quantity of evidence-based news coverage on safe abortion through in-country media training and journalists’ engagement.

Impact

SAFE ENGAGE established four country-level task forces that brought together demographers, economists, medical professionals, women’s health and rights proponents, policymakers from government ministries, and parliamentarians for discussions about abortion. These task forces created spaces for collaboration and information sharing that broadened dialogue to include new perspectives, created consensus around objectives and messages, and renewed a focus on evidence. Each task force produced and disseminated ENGAGE multimedia presentation packages. This process strengthened the capacity of task force members to use data and messaging effectively in their own presentations and materials, strengthened collaboration and consensus among safe abortion champions, and generated important policy conversations that are continuing today.

SAFE ENGAGE also supported an intensive media training effort to equip a cadre of journalists in each country to accurately report on the policies and laws surrounding abortion and the determinants, incidence, and consequences of unsafe abortion. Each country setting required its own context-specific focus, and this tailored approach has reaped the reward of high-quality reporting across diverse news outlets.

During the second phase of the project, SAFE ENGAGE built on the work of the task forces by conducting policy communication training and regional learning exchanges to strengthen Task Force members’ ability to communicate with policy audiences and foster collaboration across neighboring countries. The regional learning exchanges also allowed participants to learn from each other’s successes and brainstorm approaches to overcoming shared challenges. SAFE ENGAGE also produced a guide to policy dialogue for safe abortion, which synthesized learning from the first phase of the project.