Transform/PHARE: Uncovering and Addressing Power Dynamics to Ensure Successful Outcomes

The Transform/PHARE project, a five-year initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented cross-sectoral social and behavior change approaches to address barriers to modern contraceptive use in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Niger. Human-centered design (HCD) was used to uncover and address power dynamics related to project activities. HCD is a participatory design process that involves the community in identifying challenges and opportunities and generating ideas for new interventions. This approach allows for the consideration of power dynamics within the community, which can either present challenges or opportunities for project success. Power dynamics can affect participants during the inspiration, ideation, and implementation phases of a project. In the inspiration phase, focus groups and insight gathering can help create understanding of these dynamics. During the ideation phase, organizers should plan for how to limit the impact of these power dynamics when creating workshops or groups to generate ideas for interventions. In the context of voluntary FP programming, gender is an especially important power dynamic to consider. In West Africa, men often exert power or influence over women's voluntary FP decision-making. FP interventions often must seek engagement from men to succeed in creating a favorable environment for voluntary FP uptake. In Burkina Faso, PHARE used HCD to develop potential interventions to increase the use of voluntary FP by young women. The project identified power dynamics that affect how young people make decisions about voluntary FP and created an effective approach that influenced both young men and through them, young women to use contraception. The Père Burkinbila intervention in Burkina Faso aimed to teach fathers to talk to their sons about voluntary FP. Fathers were trained on ways to talk to their adolescent sons about relationships, gender equality, and contraception. The project included visual aids to help the fathers in their discussions, and trained facilitators conducted house visits to help participating fathers engage with their sons. In Niger, the Sarari intervention aimed to increase voluntary FP uptake among married women and to foster community support for FP. The project used HCD to identify power dynamics that affect how married women make decisions about voluntary FP and created an effective approach that influenced community members to support FP. The PHARE project demonstrates the importance of considering power dynamics in project design and implementation. By understanding and addressing these dynamics, project leaders can create effective approaches that influence behavior and decision-making among target audiences.