The INFO Project Blog

Recently, generous funding slotted towards the prevention and treatment of HIV have stolen some of the thunder once belonging to global family planning programs. The budget and quantity of often vertically-organized programs (for example, a program offering HIV voluntary counseling and testing with no information on family planning), have left many reproductive health advocates scrambling to demonstrate to decision makers how essential, not to mention cost effective, family planning is.

In the words of Dr. Robert Blum, who teaches in the Population, Family and Reproductive Health department of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

HIV has sucked not only all of the air out of the conversation, but also all the money…

Luckily, reproductive health advocates are mobilizing. The Global Exchange Network for Reproductive Health (GEN) is organizing a virtual discussion forum, “Using Leadership to Reposition Reproductive Health on the Public Health Agenda.” Funded by USAID, the forum will take place June 9-13 on the GEN Web site, in three languages (English, Spanish and French). According to the organizers,

The abundant flow of reproductive health and family planning funds to developing countries is now a thing of the past… Demand for these services is not being met in many countries, particularly in Africa and Asia. Many Latin American countries still show significant coverage gaps, and there is increasing concern that fertility and maternal mortality rates will worsen, undermining the success of efforts made until now.

Participants in “Using Leadership to Reposition Reproductive Health on the Public Health Agenda” will share experiences, identify challenges, and conduct a self-assessment of their own leadership practices.

INFO, also keen on FP advocacy, developed our Elements of Family Planning Success community to include a portal of information on accomplishing strong leadership and management in family planning programs, including tips on advocating the FP agenda to decision makers.

In a recent interview on the Elements of Family Planning Success site, Dr. Duff Gillespie, in Hopkins’s Population, Family and Reproductive Health department, gives detailed advice on how program managers should approach policymakers to show why scarce resources should be spent on family planning.

you need to know what the competition is, and not to trash another area but realize what the characteristics of the other areas are so that you can formulate a message, a package that would give your particular cause a leg up.

Watch the interview.

Listen to advocates speak about effective family planning leadership at the Elements Media Library.