SAHAYOG engages in national policy advocacy in partnership with allies across other states of India. Since 2007, SAHAYOG and allies have been working together to advocate for the right to maternal health in India.
Currently much of the advocacy is done in partnership with the National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human Rights, which was set up in January 2010, for which SAHAYOG holds the secretariat.
Some recent national policy advocacy initiatives include:
- Advocating for all women’s rights to maternity benefits, including wage-equivalent benefits for women workers in the informal sector, towards ensuring food security, child nutrition and livelihood security (2011-12)
- Maternal death reviews as a means for system correction: learning from experiences across Indian states (2011-2012)
- Highlighting issues of quality and accountability within the maternal health programme of the NRHM (through the Janani Suraksha Yojana conditional cash transfer for institutional childbirth) 2008-2010
- Discussion on the right to maternal health in India based on the report of the 2007 Mission to India of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2010)
- Older advocacy initiatives of SAHAYOG