Support for International Family Planning Organizations 2: Sustainable Networks (SIFPO2) Year Two Semiannual Report

The program is committed to the principles of voluntarism and informed choice in FP and reproductive health (RH) while reaching underserved populations, particularly youth, across 24 Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) Priority and Ouagadougou Partnership Countries. SIFPO2's year-two activities are anchored in its foundational themes of expanding method choice (MC) within the context of informed choice, wide-reaching social and behavioral change communications (SBCC), strengthening the FP workforce, supporting a total market approach (TMA), leading with evidence, expanding access for youth, promoting gender equality, increasing FP and health financing, and reinforcing social franchising (SF). Project activities are being implemented on the ground through field funding in Benin, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Guatemala, Malawi, and Swaziland, and with core funding in DRC, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia. During the reporting period, SIFPO2 supported the introduction of new methods in Mali (PPIUD) and saw method choice expansion happen via a range of interventions, including PPFP in DRC and Swaziland with field support, and increasing access to LARCs for young people via the global roll-out of youth-friendly health services (YFHS) with core funds. PSI used field support funds in Guatemala to improve the health services response by developing integrated youth-friendly spaces that help improve access to and utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. SIFPO2 core funds supported the design and implementation of quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI) audits and tools, as well as supportive supervision for FP-RH. PSI engaged in Uganda with a third-party QA mechanism, called SafeCare, and selected health facilities and began training for implementation of the SafeCare system. SIFPO2 has been advancing TMA for FP work in Senegal, Cambodia, and Mozambique, primarily by undertaking total market landscaping, based on the PSI Production to Use spectrum. PSI continues to lead the field among its peers in using DHIS2, not only for monitoring and accountability, but also for improved decision making. This reporting period highlights continued progress in the development of DHIS2, alignment with national health management information system (MIS), and improvements in PSI's key areas of data management, such as the data used for supportive supervision, QA, and referral tracking. PSI's focus on youth continues to grow directly as a result of support from PRH in SIFPO1 and the SIFPO2. In the first half of year two, PSI built upon its previous youth work, mainstreaming YFHS certification and supervision, particularly in Mozambique and Madagascar. PSI also focuses on incorporating youth in its data collection, its QA, and its day-to-day activities. SIFPO2 provides PSI with further opportunities to improve its approaches to gender integration throughout the program cycle, from program design through evaluation, and allows PSI to constructively engage men and boys in FP as users, supportive partners, and/or agents of gender transformative change in their communities. In this reporting period, PSI worked to complete research on couple communication in Zambia, and on a gender transformative communication campaign in the DRC. In line with USAID's PRH priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), via its partnership with R4D, PSI has increasingly focused on universal health coverage (UHC) and the interface between UHC, primary health care, social franchising, and FP. During this period, PSI and R4D undertook a country-level assessment in Nigeria and disseminated the findings of its work to external stakeholders. PSI recognizes SF as an important service delivery channel to achieve FP impact, and continues to seek ways to enhance equity, reach, and financial sustainability. In the first half of year two, PSI continued to collaborate in generating metrics through the SF working group, and SIFPO2 directly supported work to better understand the wealth profile of clients, by supporting work on the equity tool, and by facilitating equity analyses for the 2015 Social Franchising compendium, due to be published later in 2016.