Materials by Country :

Global and Regional

Briefs

Holistic Approach Enhances Family Planning Programs: RESPOND’s Experience with the SEED Programming Model™ (Project Brief No. 27)
The Supply–Enabling Environment–Demand (SEED™) Programming Model is a holistic model developed by EngenderHealth to apply globally and locally to guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of family planning programs. RESPOND designed and implemented its activities using the SEED model as its principal programming and conceptual framework. This paper describes how SEED was used to frame global initiatives to advocate, promote, and support family planning as an essential primary health care intervention. It also presents specific country examples of how SEED enhanced and improved the outcomes of family planning programming, especially when all three elements worked in synergy.
Available in English (PDF, 3.1 MB)

Improving Clients’ Access to Long-Acting Methods: Enhancing the Capacity of IPPF Member Associations in West Africa (Project Brief No. 24)
Contraceptive use in West Africa is very low, and long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) in particular are underutilized. To address this need, the RESPOND Project launched an initiative in 2011 in collaboration with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to build the capacity of six West African member associations (MAs). The first three MAs were supported through a six-step process of self-assessment, capacity building, contraceptive technology updating, and action planning, using the Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT). Use of LA/PMs and overall contraceptive use increased significantly during the initiative. These three MAs also led an additional three MAs through an abbreviated version of the same process, sharing their experiences and building their own capacity for facilitation and assessment. The latter group of MAs reported finding the OCAT process both helpful and necessary, said they would continue to use OCAT, and reported that the process had improved their ability to offer LA/PM services.
Available in English (PDF, 3.1 MB)

Reality Check Experiences: Use of a Program Planning and Advocacy Tool for Family Planning Initiatives (Project Brief No. 22)
Reality Check is an easy-to-use tool that family planning (FP) programs can use to set realistic FP goals and plan for service expansion to meet them, as well as to generate data for advocacy purposes. Between 2010 and 2014, RESPOND conducted Reality Check activities in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tajikistan, and Togo. This brief summarizes outcomes from and experiences in these countries and identifies keys to successful adoption.
Available in English (PDF, 3.2 MB)

Expanding Contraceptive Choice in West Africa: Building the Capacity of Local Nongovernmental Organizations to Program Holistically (Project Brief No. 15)
Between 2011 and 2013, member associations of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo received technical assistance to expand people’s access to a wide range of family planning options. The MAs assessed their capacity to provide long-acting reversible contraceptives using RESPOND’s Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool. Managers from the MAs participated in an organizational capacity-building and design workshop, and providers and supervisors from the MAs received training to improve family planning services. The initiative also involved the MAs’ developing holistic action plans, conducting a second self-assessment, and sharing their experiences with each other at a South-to-South consultative meeting. Over the course of the intervention, all three MAs saw marked increases in the number of couple-years of protection they provided.
Available in English (PDF, 3.3 MB) and French (PDF, 3.2 MB)

Building the Capacity of IPPF Affiliates in West Africa: Use of a New Tool for Program Assessment (Project Brief No. 5)
Although some African countries have seen substantial increases in family planning use, relatively few people in many francophone West African countries use modern methods. This project brief describes technical assistance provided by the RESPOND Project to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) member associations (MAs) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Togo to strengthen their provision of long-acting family planning methods. Specifically, through the use of an Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool, the MAs appraised key programming components, systems, and functions at the organizational level and developed an overview of their organizational strengths and weaknesses that will serve as a starting point for planning to improve their capacity to offer access to a greater variety of family planning methods.
Available in English (PDF, 3.2 MB) and French (PDF, 3.0 MB)

Hormonal Implant Services: Delivering a Highly Effective Contraceptive Method Now Available at Reduced Cost (Technical Brief No. 2)
The three brands of hormonal implants currently available—Implanon®, Jadelle®, and Sino-implant (II)®—are all convenient, highly effective, long-acting, and reversible methods of contraception. It is expected that more than 40 million implants will be made available at reduced cost to low-resource countries between 2013 and 2018. Lowered cost will not necessarily lead to wider access and use, however; for that to happen, programs will also have to ensure informed choice, careful client selection, an adequate, well-deployed complement of skilled and motivated providers, good counseling, capable management of side effects, adequate follow-up, and reliable availability of prompt removal services. This Technical Brief reviews the characteristics of the hormonal implant, programmatic considerations for service delivery and scale-up, and the potential health benefits of improved access to implants.
Available in English (PDF, 2.9 MB) and French (PDF, 2.9 MB)

Hormonal Implants: Service Delivery Considerations for an Improved and Increasingly Popular Method (Technical Brief No. 1)
Hormonal implants are a highly effective, very safe, and reversible form of progestin-only contraception that is quickly and easily provided by a trained provider in a few minutes via a minor surgical procedure. Nearly all women can use this long-acting method, at any stage in their reproductive life. This Technical Brief provides an overview of the characteristics of this method, as well as of the programmatic considerations for service delivery, including client eligibility, providers' ability to offer implants, service quality, and access, to name a few.
Available in English (PDF, 2.9)

Payments in the Public Sector for Reproductive Health Services in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (Report No. 1)
Informal payments for health care services that clients are entitled to receive for free are highly prevalent in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. This review of relevant literature on the financial cost to clients in this region and secondary analysis of data from Demographic Health Surveys and Reproductive Health Surveys conducted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia examines how financial and nonfinancial factors affect the provision of family planning and obstetric services. Barriers to quality family planning services in these countries are considerable. Contraceptive supplies are limited, method choice is inadequate, providers and consumers lack knowledge about modern contraceptive methods, and governments have shown limited commitment to family planning. In addition, informal payments made to health care providers may act as an incentive encouraging providers to promote and provide abortion over contraception.
Available in English (PDF, 2 MB)


 

Journal Articles

Progestin-Only Contraception: Injectables and Implants
Progestin-only contraceptive injectables and implants are highly effective, longer-acting contraceptive methods that can be used by a broad range of women. Globally, 6% of women using modern contraception use injectables and 1% use implants. Injectables are the predominant contraceptive method used in Sub-Saharan Africa, and account for 43% of modern contraceptive method use. Implants have the highest effectiveness of any contraceptive method. Commodity cost, which historically limited implant availability in low-resource countries, was markedly lowered between 2012 and 2013. Changes in menstrual bleeding patterns are extremely common with both methods and are a main cause of discontinuation. Whether these methods are associated with HIV acquisition remains controversial, with important implications for Sub-Saharan Africa, which has a disproportionate burden of both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and maternal mortality. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaelcology, Volume 28, Issue 6, August 2014, pages 795-806.
Available online in English

Voluntary, Human Rights–Based Family Planning: A Conceptual Framework
At the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, world leaders committed to providing effective family planning information and services to 120 million additional women and girls by the year 2020. Some concerns were expressed that setting numeric goals could signal a retreat from the human rights–centered approach that underpinned the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. Achieving the FP2020 goal will take concerted and coordinated efforts among diverse stakeholders and a new programmatic approach supported by the public health and human rights communities. This article presents a new conceptual framework designed to serve as a path toward fulfilling the FP2020 goal. This new unifying framework incorporates human rights laws and principles within family planning program and quality-of-care frameworks. Studies in Family Planning, Volume 45, Issue 1, March 2014, pages 1-18.
Available online in English

Meeting the Need for Modern Contraception: Effective Solutions to a Pressing Global Challenge
This article reviews such important topics as the benefits of family planning, trends in modern contraceptive use, the differential effectiveness of various modern methods, unmet need for modern contraception, the purpose and function of family planning programs, barriers to contraceptive access and use, and innovative and high-impact programming practices. The latter include such issues as postpartum family planning, postabortion family planning, task sharing/task shifting, and provision of mobile outreach services. The article also includes capsule summaries of family planning provision in three countries that represent "success stories" (Ethiopia, Malawi, and Rwanda), as well as of in a situation of universal access (in the United Kingdom). International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Volume 121, Supplement 1, May 2013, pages S9–S15.
Available online in English

Women’s Growing Desire to Limit Births in Sub-Saharan Africa: Meeting the Challenge
Secondary analyses of Demographic and Health Survey data from 18 countries examining the characteristics of Sub-Saharan African women who wish to limit childbearing find that young women often intend to limit their future births. This finding runs counter to the common assumption that only older women have such intentions. Large numbers of women have exceeded their desired fertility but do not use family planning, citing fear of side effects and health concerns as barriers. Moreover, many women who want no more children and who use contraception use short-acting contraceptive methods rather than the more effective long-acting or permanent methods. Analyses restricted to married women show that demand for limiting future births nearly equals that for spacing births. Global Health: Science and Practice, Volume 1, Number 1, March 2013, pages 97–107.
Available online in English

Contraceptive Implants: Providing Better Choices to Meet Growing Family Planning Demand
This commentary discusses the great potential of hormonal implants to help meet the growing demand for family planning in low-resource countries, especially given a recent marked reduction in commodity costs for this method. The authors highlight innovative service delivery approaches that have increased access to and use of implants, as well as programming pitfalls that must be avoided if implant services are to be scaled up widely and well. In particular, they advocate for the importance of taking a client-centered approach, nurturing providers, ensuring clients’ access to removal services, and making implant services available via dedicated providers and mobile services. Global Health: Science and Practice, Volume 1, Number 1, March 2013, pages 11–17.
Available online in English

Contraceptive Security: Incomplete Without Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Family Planning
This commentary reviews the importance of long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) of family planning and considers why they have been neglected in national contraceptive security strategies and family planning programs. The article also provides recommendations for broadening method choice to include LA/PMs more fully, thereby increasing the ability of women and men to achieve their reproductive intentions. Studies in Family Planning, Volume 42, Number 4, December 2011, pages 291-298.
Available online in English

Postabortion Family Planning: Addressing the Cycle of Repeat Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion
Postabortion family planning has always been a key element of postabortion care (PAC) services and provides a powerful rationale for PAC services. In practice, however, PAC care usually focuses on treatment of complications, and family planning is often neglected. It is essential to restore the family planning component to PAC services, not only to prevent repeat unintended pregnancy and abortion, but also because it is integral to achieving the critical health objectives—reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and new HIV infections. Women and communities should demand quality PAC services that provide them with accessible, cost-effective postabortion family planning care that will help them avoid unplanned pregnancy and repeat abortion, avoid HIV infection, improve the health of a woman's next child, and ultimately enhance the health of her family. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 36, Number 1, March 2010, pages 44-48.
Available online in English

Demographics of Vasectomy—USA and International
In the United States, vasectomies are carried out more often than any other urologic surgical procedure, with approximately half a million procedures performed annually. Worldwide, however, female sterilization is approximately seven times as common as vasectomy, even though vasectomy is less expensive and is associated with less morbidity and mortality than female sterilization. This article provides demographic details about the use of vasectomy in the United States. The August 2009 issue of Urological Clinics of North America focuses on vasectomy and provides the practitioner with the essential information to guide clients’ interest in the procedure. Urological Clinics of North America, Volume 36, Issue 3, August 2009, pages 295-305.
Available online in English


 

Tools, Training Manuals, Job Aids

Checkpoints for Choice Orientation and Resource Package
Checkpoints for Choice: An Orientation and Resource Package, funded by USAID and the Hewlett Foundation, takes a closer look at the concept of voluntarism—one component of a rights-based approach—and helps stakeholders understand the client’s experience and ability to make full, free, and informed choices about family planning. It includes adapted exercises that were developed for the RESPOND Project–supported expert consultation on contraceptive choice held in Bellagio in September 2012. It consists of a detailed plan with all support materials for a one-day workshop to enable family planning program planners and managers to strengthen the focus of family planning programs on clients’ human rights and their ability to make full, free, and informed contraceptive choices in the context of a rights-based program. In addition to the workshop guidance and materials, the package includes links to recommended references, tools, and additional readings.
Forthcoming

Reality Check: A Planning and Advocacy Tool for Strengthening Family Planning Programs (Version 3)
Reality Check is an easy-to-use tool recently updated by RESPOND and EngenderHealth that can generate data for evidence-based advocacy and strategic planning. Users can set realistic family planning goals, plan for service expansion to meet program objectives, and evaluate alternative methods for achieving specific goals. It also can help managers better understand the costs of changing the method mix in a country or region.
Software installer available in English (ZIP, 65.3MB); actual software offers an English and French interface

Reality Check, Version 3: User's Guide
Reality Check is an easy-to-use tool recently updated by RESPOND and EngenderHealth that can generate data for evidence-based advocacy and strategic planning. This User’s Guide sets forth instructions and the methodology for projecting family planning trends and instructs the user on how to apply the tool.
Available in English (PDF, 1.9 MB) and French (PDF, 1.9 MB)

Stat-Shot: Focused Family Planning Data at Your Fingertips
RESPOND conducted a secondary analysis of 40 Demographic and Health Surveys to explore the characteristics of users and nonusers of different family planning methods. Indicators explored include parity, ideal number of children, wealth quintile, urban vs. rural location, and source of method. The resulting data have been compiled into a user-friendly web-based and downloadable application, called Stat-Shot: Focused Family Planning Data at Your Fingertips. This tool has been designed for a wide range of uses—informing advocacy presentations by highlighting disparities in method use, or enabling evidence-based decision making and priority setting.
Software installer available in English (ZIP, 3.4 MB);
User guide available in English (PDF, 2.0 MB);
Product brief available in English (PDF, 722 KB)

Integration of Family Planning and Intimate Partner Violence Services: A Prototype for Adaptation, Trainer’s Guide
This manual is an educational tool for increasing the capacity of family planning and reproductive health care providers to recognize and respond to the impact of intimate partner violence in the lives of their family planning clients. It is meant as a tool to be utilized by a trained and experienced facilitator. It can also be used to train facilitators who will implement workshop activities with groups of family planning and reproductive health care providers. It is organized in the form of a five-day training, with the possibility to extend the training to include a sixth day. The training focuses on, but is not limited to: root causes and dynamics of intimate partner violence; the process for integrating services; provider attitudes and skills-development; and action planning.
Available in English (PDF, 6.5 MB)

Synchronizing Gender Strategies—A Cooperative Model for Improving Reproductive Health and Transforming Gender Relations
In exploring gender integration approaches to sexual and reproductive health programs and policies, the authors of this paper coin the term ”gender synchronization” to refer to working with men and women, boys and girls, in an intentional and mutually reinforcing way that challenges gender norms, catalyzes the achievement of gender equality, and improves health. They describe the opportunities missed by the benefits and constraints of approaches to health development that work with women or men alone. Further, they illustrate what separate but aligned programs and policies for both women and men and couple approaches look like and describe the value added from addressing both men and women from a relational perspective. This product was developed by RESPOND and the BRIDGE Project at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), in consultation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG).
Available in English (PDF, 512 KB)

Medical Instruments and Expendable Medical Supplies Needed to Provide Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception
This table outlines the specific medical instruments and expendable medical supplies necessary to provide high-quality services for long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs). Developed as a job aid, it is meant to facilitate LA/PM service delivery and ensure contraceptive security.
Available in English (PDF, 401 KB)

Responding to the Impact of Gender-Based Violence: An Annotated Bibliography for Integrated Family Planning and Gender-Based Violence Services
A compilation of the most current and relevant resources on integrating services for gender-based violence (GBV) into reproductive health services, this bibliography is designed for those seeking to develop, expand, or improve standards of care and clinic operating policies and procedures. The resources cover such areas as GBV and general service integration; GBV and family planning and reproductive health service integration; GBV and HIV service integration; conducting family planning counseling; challenging root causes of GBV; GBV in conflict and humanitarian settings; GBV as human rights; and region-specific information. Each entry includes a brief summary of the resource and its application in the context of GBV and reproductive health and family planning integration.
Available in English (PDF, 766 KB)

Preliminary Users’ Guide for the Voluntary, Rights-Based Family Planning Framework
The rights and dignity of individuals are at the center of all family planning work. Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework provides a pathway for designing, implementing, and monitoring voluntary family planning programs that respect, protect, and fulfill human rights. Since its launch in August 2013, the Framework has been well-received in a variety of settings, but stakeholders have advocated for a tool to help guide them in applying the framework in practice. This User’s Guide to the Framework was designed to help orient stakeholders on the voluntary, rights-based conceptual framework and aid them in applying the Framework during assessments and action planning and in using it to monitor, evaluate, and hold programs accountable.
Available in English (PDF, 8.5 MB)

Prototype Assessment Tools for Postabortion Care (PAC)
The Prototype Assessment Tools for Postabortion Care (PAC) Services were developed for a five-day conference held in October 2013 in Saly, Senegal (the Second Regional Francophone West Africa Postabortion Care Meeting: Strengthening Postabortion Family Planning in West Africa), which consisted of more than 60 participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, and Senegal. These checklists are revised versions of the PAC Checklists, part of the PAC Global Resources Package, which assist those involved in PAC policies, service delivery, education, or community sensitization to evaluate their current systems and tools. In preparation for this meeting, the checklists were analyzed and revised in light of EngenderHealth’s Supply–Enabling Environment–Demand (SEED) Programming Model, a holistic programming model that emphasizes the need to strengthen programs through interventions focused on supply (e.g., provider skills, availability of commodities), demand (e.g., knowledge in the community of available health services), and the enabling environment (e.g., policies supportive of services). The checklists were used by country teams to evaluate their national policies, service delivery, education, and community sensitization programs. These teams then prioritized the gaps and analyzed root causes, leading to the creation of road maps that were presented on the final day of the conference. These checklists can be adapted to serve as tools in other postabortion family planning programs and may be included in the revision of the PAC Global Services Package.
Available in English (PDF, 505 KB) and French (PDF, 500 KB)

COPE® for Contraceptive Security: An Assessment Guide: An Adaptation of the COPE Quality Improvement Approach
This publication uses the long-established COPE® (which stands for client-oriented, provider-efficient) quality improvement process and tools to help health care providers think through every dimension of contraceptive security. The 10 contraceptive security–related self-assessment guides cover a broad range of topics, including organization and staffing, the logistics system, procurement, warehousing, transport, and budgeting. As in all COPE® products, the self-assessment exercises build a sense of teamwork, promote ownership of solutions, and provide a forum for staff and supervisors to exchange ideas. This publication provides tools and processes that can help facility and district health and logistics personnel secure the supply chain by identifying threats to contraceptive security and developing novel ideas and innovative solutions to remedy or obviate those challenges.
Available in English (PDF, 1.2 MB) and French (PDF, 1.2 MB)

COPE® for Contraceptive Security Job Aid
January 2014
Available in English (PDF, 140 KB)

Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Systematic Review of Tools
Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework offers a holistic approach to realizing human rights as a part of voluntary, high-quality family planning services. The framework’s linkage of family planning and human rights was informed by systematic reviews of supporting evidence and available tools. Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Systematic Review of Tools presents an extensive review of 150 training and assessment tools, frameworks, methodologies, implementation guides, and job aids that support and promote the fulfillment of rights at the policy, service, community, and individual levels. Links to all tools reviewed are provided, to allow policymakers, program planners, and managers to access resources that will enable them to assess, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate rights-based FP programs.
Available in English (PDF, 6.9 MB)

Medical Instruments and Expendable Medical Supplies Needed to Provide Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception
This table outlines the specific medical instruments and expendable medical supplies necessary to provide high-quality services for long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs). Developed as a job aid, it is meant to facilitate LA/PM service delivery and ensure contraceptive security.
Available in English (PDF, 401 KB)

Organizational Capacity Assessment for Family Planning Programming—Long-Acting Methods (IUDs/Implants)
This tool uses an assessment approach developed by the RESPOND Project to enable organizations to quickly assess their capacity to provide family planning services, with an emphasis on long-acting methods of contraception (the intrauterine device [IUD] and implants). The tool helps organizations assess their own capacity and is intended to capture what systems are in place to support the provision of high-quality services for long-acting methods, at the organizational level, not simply at the clinic level.
Available in English (PDF, 562 KB) and French (PDF, 636 KB)

LA/PMs: A Smart FP/RH Program Investment, a course for the USAID Global Health eLearning Center
Ensuring access to information about and affordable quality services for a wide range of contraceptive methods within family planning and reproductive health programs is vital to enabling women and men to achieve their reproductive intentions, whether they choose to delay a first pregnancy, space pregnancies, or limit further childbearing. Long-acting and permanent methods (LA/PMs) play a central role in meeting the reproductive health needs of individuals and couples. This eLearning course is designed to provide learners with a solid understanding of LA/PMs, the rationale for making these methods more widely available in countries’ contraceptive method mix, and the benefits they can provide to both clients and health care systems. The course presents a combination of technical information, leadership and training strategies, and holistic programming experiences from the field.
Available online in English

Implants Toolkit
The Implants Toolkit provides policy makers, health care providers, and program managers across the globe with state-of-the-art information on this highly safe and increasingly popular contraceptive method. It offers quick and easy access to information on programming and policy considerations relevant to hormonal implants—information that has been reviewed by expert panels and is housed in one convenient location. The Implants Toolkit was developed by the LA/PM Community of Practice, under the leadership of The RESPOND Project/EngenderHealth, Family Health International, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Available online in English

Permanent Methods Toolkit
Contraceptive sterilization is the most commonly used family planning method worldwide, used by more than 250 million women and men. Given the number of couples who do not want more children, these permanent methods are important and relevant options for family planning programs to include in their contraceptive method mix. This toolkit was developed by members of the Long-Acting and Permanent Methods (LA/PMs) Community of Practice, under the leadership of EngenderHealth, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for Communication Programs, FHI 360, and USAID.
Available online in English

The Training Resource Package for Family Planning
The Training Resource Package for Family Planning, to which the RESPOND Project contributed, contains curriculum components and tools needed to design, implement, and evaluate training. It offers essential resources for family planning and reproductive health trainers, supervisors, and program managers. The entire package is designed to support up-to-date training on family planning and reproductive health. The development of the TRP was led by USAID, World Health Organization, and United Nations Population Fund, with full participation from technical and training experts representing multiple agencies and organizations.
Available online in English

Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation: A Spiritual Supplement Facilitating the Men as Partners Group Education Manual in Christian Settings
This supplement to Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation: The Group Education Manual was created to promote gender transformation through biblical and spiritual discussion in Christian contexts, stimulate conversation and deeper reflection on gender-related topics with Christian audiences, support facilitators in dealing with difficult questions of a religious or spiritual nature, and provide facilitators with religious and spiritual justifications for gender equity and equality. It was developed jointly by RESPOND and LifeLine/ChildLine (the project partner in Namibia) with funding support from PEPFAR. The document was used by LifeLine/ChildLine to conduct gender-transformative work with men and boys and to train Christian clergy in its use for the development of sermons, pastoral counselling, religious education, and health education.
Available in English (PDF, 1.6 MB)

Quantification of Health Commodities: Contraceptive Companion Guide
This technical brief—Using Quantification to Support Introduction and Expansion of Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception—suggests strategies for improving tools for quantifying the medical equipment, instruments, and expendable supplies needed to provide LA/PMs, as well as the likely rate of product consumption. (November 2011 USAID | DELIVER and RESPOND Project LA/PM Technical Brief)
Available in English (PDF, 1.5 MB)

Using Quantification to Support Introduction and Expansion of Long-Acting and Permanent Methods for Contraception
This contraceptive forecasting guide—Quantification of Health Commodities: Contraceptive Companion Guide, Forecasting Consumption of Contraceptive Supplies—includes a list of products required for each LA/PM, as well as related forecasting considerations.
( October 2010 USAID | DELIVER and RESPOND Project LA/PM Technical Brief)
Available in English (PDF, 313 KB)

Getting the Numbers Right: A Guide to USAID-Developed Contraceptive Forecasting Tools
November 2009
Available in English (PDF, 1.1 MB)

A Matter of Fact, A Matter of Choice: The Case for Investing in Permanent Contraceptive Methods
Demand to limit further childbearing will continue to rise in low-resource countries as desired family size continues to fall. If family planning programs are to fully meet the needs and preferences of the women and men they serve, across their entire reproductive life cycle, it is essential that both female sterilization and vasectomy become meaningful method options in low-resource countries. This report provides data on use of permanent methods, analyzes challenges to their wider availability, and describes programming approaches that have resulted in widespread, equitable provision of permanent methods at a national scale in Malawi and Tanzania. The paper argues that making permanent methods widely available and equitably accessible as a voluntarily chosen method option in low-resource countries is not only feasible, cost-effective, and popular with clients—it is an ethical imperative.
Available in English (PDF, 3.2MB)

Post Abortion Family Planning: A Key Component of Post Abortion Care Consensus Statement (2013)
Calling for a renewed commitment to the health of women following induced abortion, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), International Council of Nurses (ICN), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), Department for International Development (DFID), and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued a joint consensus statement on the importance of family planning service provision to women when they are treated for postabortion complications. The statement commits the organizations to ensuring that voluntary family planning counseling and services are included as an essential component of postabortion care in all settings, lays out the rationale for offering family planning to women in such circumstances, and reviews intervention approaches. RESPOND led the process of finalizing the consensus statement.
Available in English (PDF, 837 KB), French (PDF, 840 KB), and Spanish (PDF, 844 KB)

Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework
The rights and dignity of individuals are at the center of all family planning work. Voluntary Family Planning Programs that Respect, Protect, and Fulfill Human Rights: A Conceptual Framework presents a practical approach for voluntary family planning programs to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights as they set out to improve health and achieve ambitious family planning goals. This comprehensive framework brings together human rights laws and principles with family planning quality of care frameworks to assist policymakers, program managers, donors, and civil society with program design, implementation, and monitoring, and evaluation.
Available in English (PDF, 2 MB)

A Fine Balance: Contraceptive Choice in the 21st Century (Bellagio Consultation)
In September 2012, the RESPOND Project convened a diverse group of multidisciplinary experts from 11 countries to examine the intersection of contraceptive choice and human rights, find common ground on the meaning of contraceptive choice, and develop an action agenda on informed and voluntary contraceptive choice. This report on the landmark gathering of family planning and rights experts, donors, and national policymakers summarizes the discussions. In addition to reaffirming that informed and voluntary contraceptive choice is a human right but is still not a reality for women and adolescents in many settings, the participants identified critical steps for advancing an agenda of choice and rights in family planning and reproductive health.
Available in English (PDF, 975 KB)

The Importance of Voluntary Family Planning and Its Provision by Our Members—Consensus Statement
Many types of health care workers play an important role worldwide in providing quality family planning services, preservice education and in-service training for doctors, midwives, and nurses often omits or scants basic education in family planning counseling and service provision. This reduces the ability of these cadres to provide-and women and men to access-the full complement of FP methods and services. In collaboration with RESPOND, the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), International Congress of Midwives (ICM), and International Council of Nursing (ICN) developed a joint consensus statement emphasizing the importance of family planning, supporting the right of women to universal access to family planning, and identifying the critical role that midwives and nurses have to play as providers and managers in delivering these health services.
Available in English (PDF, 682 KB), French (PDF, 690 KB), Spanish (PDF, 690 KB), and Russian (PDF, 769 KB)


 

Videos

Long-Acting and Permanent Methods: Stories from the RESPOND Project (West Africa)
Although evidence suggests that good couple communication supports better use of family planning, few tools exist to encourage such communication in West Africa. To inspire couples to talk about family planning, the RESPOND Project developed four short documentaries profiling real couples who overcame their fears about long-acting and permanent methods of contraception. The four videos in the series depict the issues and decision-making processes that each couple struggled with and are intended to inspire others to talk about family planning. The videos can serve as a focal point for community-level group discussions; they may also be used at health facilities to generate discussion between providers and clients. (Available in French and Mòoré with English subtitles, these videos were produced by RESPOND Project partner Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs.)
Available online in French and in Mòoré with English Subtitles


 

Presentations

Family Planning Methods and Approaches: What’s New and Particularly Relevant to Midwives
International Congress of Midwives (ICM) Triennial-Congress, June 1-5, 2014, Prague (Plenary Panel, Unmet Need for Family Planning: What Midwives Can Do to Help)
Available in English (PDF, 3.2 MB)

Global and Regional Overview: FP Demand, Use and Unmet Need
Accelerating Contraceptive Choice: Expanding Options through Country Leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa, April 2-4, 2014, Nairobi, Kenya
Available in English (PDF, 3.4 MB)

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Unmet Need …and Doing Something about It
Global Health Mini-University, March 7, 2014
Available in English (PDF, 5.6 MB)

A Fine Balance: Contraceptive Choice in the 21st Century, Consultation Summary (IBP Meeting)
Implementing Best Practices Meeting, 2013
Available in English (PDF, 4.9 MB)

No More Missed Opportunities: Assuring Postpartum Women Timely Access to Effective FP
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Available in English (PDF, 611 KB)

Sowing the SEEDS of Expanded Contraceptive Choice: Using a Holistic Framework to Strengthen Capacity of Three IPPF Member Associations in West Africa
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Available in English (PDF, 5 MB)

Women's Growing Desire to Limit Births in Sub-Saharan Africa: Meeting the Challenge
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Available in English (PDF, 3.7 MB)

Start Too Soon, Stop Too Late: The importance of addressing the reproductive intentions of women who want to delay a first birth or limit further births
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Panel: Unmet Need and Method Mix: What They Tell Us about Equity, Choice, and Program Priorities).
Available in English (PDF, 3.3 MB)

Contraceptive Implants: The Future Is Here, It’s Just Not Widely Distributed Yet
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Available in English (PDF, 3 MB)

Programmation holistique et le renforcement des systèmes de santé avec le modèle SEED
Francophone Réunion Afrique de l'Ouest Soins après avortement (SAA) et planification familiale (PF),6-11 octobre 2013 / Saly, Sénégal
Available in French (PDF, 2.6 MB)

A Fine Balance: Engaging Multiple Perspectives to Strengthen Contraceptive Choice and Protect Rights
First Global Conference on Contraception, Reproduction and Sexual Health, May 25, 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark
Available in English (PDF, 4.1 MB)

A Fine Balance: Contraceptive Choice in the 21st Century, Consultation Summary (USAID Consultation)
USAID Briefing, March 5, 2013
Available in English (PDF, 5 MB)

Meeting unmet need and increasing contraceptive options and services through postpartum family planning
FIGO World Congress, October 7–12, 2012, Rome, Italy
Available in English (PDF, 3.5 KB)

The What-nots and Why-nots of Unmet Need for FP
Global Health Mini-University, September 14, 2012, Washington, D.C.
Available in English (PDF, 3.9 MB)

Reality Check: A Planning and Advocacy Tool for Family Planning Programs
International Conference on Family Planning: Research and Best Practices, November 29–December 2, 2011, Dakar, Senegal
Available in English (PDF, 3 MB)

For Those Who’ve Had Enough: What do we know about women with an intent to limit?
International Conference on Family Planning: Research and Best Practices, November 29-December 2, 2011, Dakar, Senegal
Available in English (PDF, 2.2 MB)

Impediments to Meeting Reproductive Intentions to Limit in Africa: Client Perspectives & the Role of Behavior Change Communication
International Conference on Family Planning: Research and Best Practices, November 29–December 2, 2011, Dakar, Senegal
Available in English (PDF, 3 MB)

Pay ATTENTION to Reproductive INTENTION: Limiters Have Needs Too
USAID 11th Annual Global Health Mini-University, September 30, 2011, Washington, D.C.
Available in English (PDF, 3.4 KB)

From WHO Guidance to Provider Practice: Knowledge Translation in Action and Actuality
WHO Consultation on Postpartum Family Planning, November 22, 2010, Geneva, Switzerland
Available in English (PDF, 3.7 MB)

For Those Who Have Had Enough: Taking a New Look at Postpartum Sterilization
First WHO Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, November 17, 2010, Montreux, Switzerland
Available in English (PDF, 2.9 MB)

Programming for Long-acting and Permanent FP Methods in Community Settings: Overview
WHO Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, November 16-19, 2010, Montreux, Switzerland
Available in English (PDF, 3.6 MB)

The Only People Who Like Change Are Babies with Dirty Diapers: Useful considerations about fostering behavior change in your health programs (and the rest of your life)
USAID Global Health Mini-University October 8, 2010, Washington D.C.
Available in English (PDF, 3.3 MB)

To Tie the Knot or Not: A Case for Permanent Family Planning Methods.
USAID Global Health Mini-University October 8, 2010, Washington D.C.
Available in English (PDF, 3.5 MB)

Contraceptive Security for LA/PMs and the Compelling Case for Postpartum IUD
Global Health Mini-University, 2010, Washington D.C.
Available in English (PDF, 3 MB)

Involving Men in Reproductive Health and Family Planning Services: Experience from International Programs
Centers for Disease Control meeting on Advancing Men’s Reproductive Health in the United States: Current Status and Future Directions, September 13, 2010, Atlanta, GA
Available in English (PDF, 3.6 MB)

Contraceptive Security: Incomplete without Long-Acting and Permanent Contraception (LA/PMs)
Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition 11th Membership Meeting. May 27-28, 2010, Kampala, Uganda
Available in English (PDF, 5 MB)

Community Mobilization around Postabortion Care and Integration of Family Planning
FP-MNCH-Nutrition Integration Technical Consultation, March 30, 2011
Available in English (PDF, 891 KB)

What’s Hot, and What Does It Mean for LAC
USAID LAC HPN Officers SOTA, March 9, 2010, Miami, Florida
Available in English (PDF, 3.7 MB)

The Role of Family Planning in Meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
East, Central and Southern African (ECSA) Health Ministers Annual Meeting, February 16, 2010, Kampala, Uganda
Available in English (PDF, 2.8 MB)

Promoting Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception: Understanding and Addressing Client Concerns
International Conference on Family Planning, November 15-18, 2009, Kampala, Uganda
Available in English (PDF, 3.5 MB)

Addressing the Family Planning Needs of People Living with HIV and AIDS through Integration of Family Planning Services at an ART Center in Uganda
International Conference on Family Planning, November 15-18, 2009, Kampala, Uganda
Available in English (PDF, 779 KB)

Is That a Vasectomy in Your Pocket?
International Conference on Family Planning, November 15-18, 2009, Kampala, Uganda
Available in English (PDF, 1.5 MB)

What’s New, What’s Hot, and What Does It Mean for E&E
USAID E&E HPN Officers SOTA, June 10, 2009, Budapest, Hungary
Available in English (PDF, 958 KB)

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COPE, Men As Partners, and MAP are registered trademarks of EngenderHealth. SEED is a trademark of EngenderHealth.
Photo credits: M. Tuschman/EngenderHealth; A. Fiorente/EngenderHealth; C. Svingen/EngenderHealth.

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The RESPOND Project Digital Archive, Version 2.0