Global Exchange Network for Reproductive Health: A Series of Virtual Fora Highlighting USAID’s Contraceptive Security Ready Lessons

GEN's goal is to contribute to improving the capacity and effectiveness of family planning and reproductive health programs and organizations by supporting the exchange of information about the management, leadership, and organizational processes necessary to improve organizational sustainability and service quality. GEN sponsored three fora on USAID's Ready Lessons in Contraceptive Security during the period July 2009 – July 2010. The objectives of this series of fora were to disseminate strategies for applying the fundamentals of programming for contraceptive security in a rapidly changing health environment, to expose GEN members to the series of USAID Ready Lessons in Contraceptive Security, to strengthen new and existing relationships with other cooperating agencies who authored the Ready Lessons in Contraceptive Security, and to promote discussions on the Ready Lesson in Contraceptive Security themes. The first event, held from July 20-24, 2009, focused on USAID's Contraceptive Security Ready Lessons II, 6: Mobilizing Financial Resources. The event brought together 149 participants from 46 countries, who logged in a total of 258 times and contributed 94 posts to the discussion. The event highlighted the current situation for FP financing, steps being taken to mobilize resources, financing in the context of decentralization, repositioning family planning, and financing and the supply chain. Key points of conversation during the event included the challenges of securing funds for family planning, the importance of commitment through advocacy, especially at the decentralized level, to ensure that local governments included FP services in their budgets. Participants also discussed the role of information systems in producing reliable data for distribution and procurement, and the need to explore new mechanisms of ensuring performance, such as Performance-Based Incentives for FP. The event also highlighted the importance of understanding the impact of global health initiatives in HIV, Malaria, and TB on family planning, and the need for FP advocates to be better positioned to benefit from increased investment in other health areas and to call for better integration in health systems. The event initiated dialogue on various topics, including decentralization, stockouts/shortages, competing health/development priorities, and lack of available funding. The GEN network aims to further enhance its support for country needs by facilitating country-country exchange, providing technical assistance, and enhancing its website to support in-country needs. Participants were encouraged to provide feedback on how the forum/network/website can be further enhanced to support their in-country needs, what type of country-country exchange would be most helpful, and what specific technical assistance needs they may have.