Basic Health Care Support Programme

By 2026, the resilience for the health and well-being of the target population of West Bengal is improved through community empowerment and good governance at all levels, from village to state. In India, Memisa implements the BHCSP with its partner, the West Bengal Voluntary Health Association with 3 paths to change: Promote good governance: strengthen local leadership, document the changes introduced, in collaboration with research institutions to influence the decision-making level. Supporting community empowerment: stimulate local and community initiatives. Support political advocacy and societal movements for greater solidarity. Managing knowledge management: the entire programme is constructed as a participatory action-research. This translates into active participation in knowledge management spaces, publication and dissemination of experiences and tools, facilitating access to national and international platforms for local civil society partners, and the search for effectiveness and efficiency through the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. This outcome places particular emphasis on the aspects of ecological sustainability and gender equity in health. The Basic Health Care Support program implemented by WBVHA is functioning in 5 different districts of West Bengal, India. We work with a network of community groups in different villages. The program aims at: Closing the gaps: making people aware of the services that exist and how they can access them; making people aware of their right to healthcare and how they can organize themselves to claim for what is not provided for. Influence policy: by facilitating the implementation of the national health policy and documenting the process, problems and obstacles, the program proposes a change so that policy corresponds better to the needs. Stimulating strategic and functional partnerships that are needed at every level to influence policy, from the community up to policy level. The program has evolved throughout the years from a normative logic (what to do) to a coaching logic (how to do it) and is now scaling up and documenting the experiences that can influence policy at every level.