TCI’s inception workshop in Dhaka South.
When The Challenge Initiative (TCI) formally launched in Bangladesh in February 2026, the team faced a question that every new program must answer quickly: how do you build something that a government will one day own and sustain – and how do you make that expectation clear from the very first meeting?
The answer, it turns out, starts with a candid conversation.
Setting the Terms from the Start
In meetings with leadership across a few cities, TCI was deliberate about one thing above all: clarity. Senior health officials, technical staff, and administrative personnel were each brought into the same conversation about what TCI is – and what it is not.
TCI’s model is demand-driven and government-led. Local governments are expected to lead implementation through their existing structures, mobilize their own departments, and integrate TCI approaches into routine health systems. They are also expected to invest staff time, training venues, supervision, and budget allocations for family planning programs – contributions that signal ownership rather than passive participation.
TCI’s role was defined just as clearly: catalytic technical assistance, coaching, and strategic guidance. Not a replacement for government financing or a parallel service delivery system, but a partner that helps local systems work better. This framing was intentional to ensure all parties understand the model before formal commitment and to establish a foundation of shared expectations – the kind that sustains programs when external support eventually moves on.
Building Beyond Individual Champions
Bangladesh’s urban health governance environment added urgency to these early conversations. Recent government decisions to restructure how urban primary health care facilities are managed introduced uncertainty about future operational authority. In that context, anchoring the program in a single champion or contact person would have been a fragile strategy.
Instead, TCI is deliberately engaging across multiple offices and authority levels within each city, identifying second-line decision-makers who could preserve continuity should leadership change. Coordinating around early shared activities – including a formal project launch in April – gave stakeholders tangible reasons to stay engaged beyond introductory meetings.
Two Cities Get Started
TCI has formally partnered with Dhaka South and Chattogram, both of which agreed to a baseline assessment of family planning services across their health facilities. TCI moved quickly to assess the state of family planning services across target cities – conducting facility assessments, interviews with key health officials, focus group discussions, and community mapping exercises. Data collection in Dhaka South is nearing completion; Chattogram follows closely behind.
The baseline is not just a starting measurement. In an environment where health system governance may continue to shift, understanding what data exists, where it lives, and how it flows is itself a strategic asset.
