NRHS implements its mission through a combination of approaches including: research, training, policy advocacy, programming and partnerships. This section describes in detail how NRHS applies each of these approaches in achieving its mission.

Research: Health research is one of NRHS’ core competencies. NRHS specializes in reproductive health and HIV/STI prevention and treatment research. NRHS is the pioneer male circumcision research organization in Kenya and has completed several high-profile researches over the years most of which have not only been published in international scientific journals but have also informed the development of policies and programmes at national, regional and international levels.

Training: NRHS acknowledges a continuous need for capacity building in issues of reproductive
health in Africa. To this end, NRHS offers medical-related trainings to many stakeholders including government health care professionals, community health extension workers and individual reproductive health professionals. The trainings complement NRHS research activities and are aimed to equip targeted participants with the required knowledge and skills in various medical fields. The trainings are also a quality assurance and improvement measure to the research and programmatic activities of NRHS.

Policy advocacy: NRHS is not primarily an advocacy organization. However, through research, NRHS generates evidence that reproductive health activists require for respective advocacy campaigns. The evidence generated also informs policy decisions by governments, international
normative agencies, donors and other policymakers.

Evidence-based programming: NRHS applies an evidence-based approach to design its programmes with most of the programmes that NRHS implements emerging from its research projects. A number of other actors including governments, intergovernmental and non-profit organizations also use the evidence that NRHS generates from research to design their programmes. The evidence-based approach enables NRHS and other actors to design programmes that effectively respond to the needs of the targeted populations.

Partnership development: NRHS recognizes the importance of working with other stakeholders in order to strengthen reproductive health. Key stakeholders with whom NRHS has existing or potential partnerships include other NGOs, local and international universities, governments, intergovernmental organizations, biomedical and pharmaceutical companies, and individual researchers. NRHS also continues to develop strong partnerships with a number of funding agencies.