By Althea Wolfe, Coordinator, Data and Measurement, FP2030
From the beginning, the family planning measurement meeting held in Nairobi was designed to break the mold. In late June, over 60 experts in the family planning field gathered in Kenya’s capitol. This inaugural event in the “Family Planning Measurement Advancement Convening Series” was titled, “Centering Locally-Driven Family Planning Measurement Priorities in the Global Measurement Agenda,” and from its inception, this event was created with inclusivity and diversity at the forefront. Instead of convening the “usual suspects,” family planning data and measurement experts were sought out across the world and participated in a competitive application process.
The objectives of this event were twofold: consult with those doing country-level family planning measurement work on their priorities, and center country perspectives in a field that can be dominated by the same few global actors. Amidst a slew of convenings and research conversations related to the global family planning measurement agenda this year, it was vital that the Family Planning Measurement Advancement Convening Series opened with diverse experts based at institutions and governments directly collecting, interpreting, and managing data at the country level.
The people in the room came from varied backgrounds—including Diah Ikawati at Indonesia’s Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Vololoniaina Rasoanandrasana, the Track20 Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Madagascar’s Ministry of Health, and Dr. Funmilola OlaOlorun, co-Principal Investigator of the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) project and lecturer at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan. In one of the few formal presentations of the week, Dr. OlaOlorun explored the idea of contraceptive dynamics and equity. After reviewing PMA data collection innovations and ways that discontinuation and switching data can be used to better track contraceptive use by marginalized populations throughout their reproductive journey, she concluded, “measurement is messy work.”
This aspect of family planning measurement was certainly evident throughout the week, both inside and outside of the conference room at the Fairview Hotel. Building on recent measurement work, including a recent Performance Monitoring and Evidence Working Group meeting held in Nairobi in September 2023, experts got to work sharing best practices, and used a series of interactive polls and activities to identify priorities that were missing from the global zeitgeist but remained vital in their measurement work. One such topic was the maintenance and transformation of data collection systems during humanitarian emergencies. Inside the room, experts discussed the critical need for continued data collection and measurement of SRHR services during disruptions, including humanitarian crises and emergencies. From war in the Middle East, to mass migration across Latin America and the Caribbean, to chronic civil conflict in parts of Africa, many countries struggle to collect data on contraceptive services, stockouts, and method availability during crises. Even in countries relatively untouched by conflict, data collection and strategies for triangulation are still challenging. Estimating coverage and understanding trends can involve a number of data sources, leveraging survey, program, and HMIS service statistics data. For program implementers, knowing the statistics in their areas is vital to effectively managing and planning interventions in all settings.
While conflict and emergencies were hot topics in the meeting, outside the hotel Kenyan youth were facing their own crisis. Only two kilometers away, thousands of protestors, many of them youth advocates, gathered on June 25th to protest a proposed tax bill. Against this backdrop, the meeting still forged ahead, with equity of marginalized groups in the context of family planning measurement emerging as a key priority for many participants. Measuring equity for adolescents and youth was one of the most frequently referenced priorities throughout the week. This is an area of alignment between country-level and global actors—FP2030 recently launched a formal Adolescent and Youth Strategy at the ICPD30 Global Youth Dialogue conference in Benin in May.
Family planning measurement among marginalized groups like LGBTI and disabled populations was also discussed. Privacy concerns and the risk of family planning users being “outed” to communities as LGBTI or disabled was explored as an obstacle in many countries to assessing inequities. And as many countries see progress or setbacks in LGBTI-related stigma and advocacy efforts, infrequent or outdated survey data on key family planning indicators is limited in its ability to address those environmental changes. The same survey limitations are relevant for measurement of equity for migrants and refugees.
Amidst a city lockdown and guidance to shelter in place, family planning data experts remained focused on the rare opportunity presented by this uniquely designed meeting. They dove into robust conversations on best practices for measuring contraceptive intentions, data collection challenges and successes, and alignment of priorities among global donors and country-level experts. These experts from over 20 countries across all four of FP2030’s hub regions represented diverse perspectives. Together, they challenged the status quo and asked the community to work toward a system where country-level measurement challenges and priorities are given the same attention and financial backing as global challenges and priorities. With this in mind, the group identified values and principles to guide the community going forward. The values agreed on by this group lay out the “ways of working” that should guide family planning measurement advancement in coming years, including data transparency and system resilience, active collaboration, platforms for continuous learning, and shared leadership with an emphasis on integrity.
For more discussion on how priorities coming out of this meeting have catalyzed new family planning measurement work, there will be an outcome-focused webinar in late November 2024. The next measurement advancement event in this series will take these learnings forward to key donors and research partners at a meeting hosted by the Gates Institute in Washington DC, tentatively scheduled for spring 2025. As we approach the International Conference on Family Planning to be held in 2025, and walk along the “Road to Bogota,” the family planning community should continue to approach measurement advancement at all levels with country perspectives and country ownership at the forefront.
