Family Planning and Advocacy

The Family Planning Project, implemented by Swabhiman Samiti and supported by Global Health Strategies, aimed to improve access to informed and expanded contraceptive choices primarily in uska Bazar, Siddharth Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. The project utilized a champion-based strategy that leveraged the voices and influence of individuals from various walks of life to speak to the strength of family planning and encourage its uptake. A total of 20 champions in Uska Bazar, Siddharth Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, were trained across five categories: ASHAs/ANMs/Angawadi workers, women's group, religious leaders, VHSNC members, and PRI members, as well as community members through a two-day training workshop. The training built their knowledge of the relevance of family planning as a key health intervention, strengthened their communication skills by providing them with requisite Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) aids, and honed their advocacy skills to liaise with local officials more efficiently. Community champions, now equipped with the requisite knowledge and skillset, are equipped to lead and sustain community-level efforts beyond the length of the project.
The community champions were entrusted with key responsibilities of building awareness at the community level and liaising with the local administrators to resolve supply outage issues. There are now active discussions on family planning within saas-bahu saamelans, informal community meetings, and Village Health Nutrition Day (VHNDs), which have led to a two-fold change: ensuring policies and interventions are made more effective and cultivating a sense of ownership and self-efficacy among not only community champions but the community at large. The project covered one district, one block, and 10 villages, engaging more than 400 people as participants/beneficiaries. The project's unique opportunity is to capture the community champions' journeys through the course of the project and spotlight the volunteer champion-based strategy.

Published: by Swabhiman Samiti

Family Planning and Advocacy

Funding Organization :
Global Health Strategies ( GHS )
Project Budget :
Unknown
Time Period :
2018 to 2019
Status :
Achieved

Budget and Time Period:

The Family Planning Project had a total cost of Rs. unknown. which was fully funded by Global Health Strategies.The program was implemented between 1 june 2018 to 31 30 june 2019.

Objectives:

Increase male participation in family planning conversations (demand generation).
Utilize convergence platforms to disseminate family planning messaging (demand generation and supply management).
Seek support from local administration to resolve supply outage issues (supply management).
Clarify myths and misconceptions to promote the adoption of family planning methods (demand generation).

Themes-Framework:

The themes and framework of this project are centered around demand generation and supply management for family planning.

Activity

Creation of a Pool of 20 Community Champions
Strengthening Linkages and Advocacy with Government Officials
Utilizing Media Platforms for Dissemination
Field Visits and Key Observations
Strengthening Community Champions
Sustainability Plan for Family Planning Advocacy
Vision for Long-Term Sustainability
Notable Developments of the Project

Creation of a Pool of 20 Community Champions

We have successfully created and trained a pool of 20 Community Champions (CC) to advocate for family planning. Kamrunnisha, Urmila, Mainawati, Maya Singh and Suman are very active CC. Kamrunnisha, Urmila, and Mainawati were awarded by CHC Uska as the best achievers of the Antara scheme.

Strengthening Linkages and Advocacy with Government Officials

We have established a good liaison between Community Champions and village, block, and district level officials and decision makers. Our advocacy efforts have resulted in:

CMO attending our program twice.
DPM attending our program twice.
Antara Injection facility starting at CHC Uska Bazar.
Distribution of contraceptives to ASHAs by CHC Uska Bazar.
Distribution of IEC material to ASHAs by CHC Uska Bazar.

Utilizing Media Platforms for Dissemination

We have utilized media platforms to disseminate our work. The media has covered more than 10 programs and activities.

Field Visits and Key Observations

A total of 238 field visits were conducted by Swabhiman Samiti staff. Key observations include limited knowledge of contraceptives in the community, lack of availability of contraceptives in some villages, and focus on sterilization by ASHA.

In the village, there was no availability of contraceptives.
Saas bahu sammelan was not organized in villages.
Only immunization was conducted in VHND.
Community had limited knowledge on contraceptives.
ASHA focused on sterilization.

Strengthening Community Champions

Our contributions in building the capacity of the champions include:

Providing hand-holding support to Community Champions in fieldwork.
Liaising between Community Champions and (village, block, and district) level officers for the identification of champions.
Providing information/knowledge about monthly planning and implementation of the program.
Explaining the method of using village, block, and district-level platforms to solve identified issues.
Providing information to Community Champions about preparation and documentation before advocating the issue.

Sustainability Plan for Family Planning Advocacy

To sustain and continue the work around family planning with the pool of trained champions, we plan to:

Keep discussing upcoming issues with the champions.
Motivate the CC to contact village, block, and district-level officers/decision makers to address identified issues.
Conduct quarterly motivational meetings with all Community Champions to share their experiences.

Vision for Long-Term Sustainability

Our vision for the long-term sustainability of family planning advocacy includes:

Identification and development of leadership in Community Champions.
Formation of groups of eligible people and contraceptive users to raise demand.
Formation of a federation for a pressure group and to resolve supply issues.

Notable Developments of the Project

The notable Three developments of the project include:

Antara Injection facility has been started at CHC Uska Bazar after our district level advocacy.
Our Community Champions have mobilized 36 women to adopt Antara, and they have adopted it.
Contraceptives and IEC material are available at the village level, and ASHAs are providing MALA-N, condoms, and e-pills.

Overall, we conducted 151 meetings, sensitized 2242 people, and reached a total population of 30200 in the villages.

In summary, the Family Planning Project implemented by Swabhiman Samiti and supported by Global Health Strategies is a great example of a successful champion-based strategy that has built community champions to drive key shifts in perception, understanding, and uptake of family planning information and services. The project has increased awareness and engagement at the community level, ensured policies and interventions are more effective, and cultivated a sense of ownership and self-efficacy among community champions and the community at large. The project's focus on building the capacity of community champions to lead and sustain community-level efforts beyond the length of the project is a great example of a sustainable development approach that can have lasting positive impacts. Notable developments of the project include the initiation of Antara Injection facility at CHC Uska Bazar, mobilization of 36 women to adopt Antara, and the availability of contraceptives and IEC material at the village level. Overall, the project has sensitized 2242 people and reached the total population of 30200 villages.