Global Leadership to Achieve Reproductive Intentions

The RESPOND Project engages a broad range of participants from the family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) community to advance the strategic role that long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs) can play in responding to unmet need, enabling FP programs to better achieve their goals, and helping individuals achieve their reproductive intentions.

RESPOND identifies programmatic practices that work and are relevant to LA/PM programming. We organize and widely disseminate that knowledge for application both within the RESPOND Project and beyond.

Key Activities

Engaging International Professional Organizations to Promote the Benefits of LA/PMs
International professional organizations are important resources for offering technical and normative guidance to health care providers and organizations around the world. The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) can play a critical role as advocates for FP and LA/PMs with their global networks. RESPOND is collaborating with each of these groups to develop materials and/or outreach activities to advocate for greater access to information and services for FP, including LA/PMs.


Fostering and Supporting an LA/PM Community of Practice
Since 2009, RESPOND has engaged interested collaborators in a community of practice (CoP) in the domain of FP, especially long-acting methods (hormonal implants and intrauterine devices) and permanent methods (tubal ligation and vasectomy). The LA/PM CoP serves as a venue for the exchange of learning and experience among key organizations and USAID-funded projects that are involved in LA/PM service delivery (including research and training). This includes:

• Conducting technical consultations to advance issues of interest to the CoP
• Convening working groups on special topics, to share lessons learned
• Compiling best practices and identifying gaps, through data analysis and research, to inform the programmatic agenda and strategies for revitalizing LA/PM use.