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Social Enterprise Innovations in Family Planning

As the United States Agency for International Development partners with countries in their journey to self-reliance, it is important to understand how to better engage and support different types of private sector entities. Social enterprises are private companies that combine a sustainable, private sector business model with social goals. These organizations are developing new business models and leveraging new technologies to overcome barriers that have historically prevented clients from accessing health information, products, and services. SHOPS Plus conducted a landscape analysis of social enterprises that offer family planning information, products, and services and wrote case studies on four. These case studies identify innovative strategies to overcome barriers in accessing family planning, core components of business models that support sustainability, and challenges and adaptations to models that may have relevance for other organizations. This brief describes the landscape process; presents examples of social enterprises delivering family planning and reproductive health information, products, and services; and highlights what can be learned about engaging social enterprises as global health partners based on the experiences of these organizations.