Building capacity to prioritize and strengthen LA/PM Programming

RESPOND serves as a go-to LA/PM resource for the international community providing technical assistance to local governments, international nongovernmental organizations, multilaterals, and donors to prioritize and strengthen LA/PM programming. Over the past year, RESPOND provided 51 expert consultations to 19 organizations and governments. Examples of these expert contributions include the following: 

• In December 2010, RESPOND co-hosted a joint PSI-RESPOND National Workshop on IUDs and LA/PMs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in support of the Ministry of Health's reproductive health activities. The goal of the workshop was to present SOTA medical information and produce recommendations for the future as part of Cambodia's National RH Program Strategy (2011-2015). Sixty participants from the provincial and national levels attended the workshop. A key result was that the MOH agreed to introduce postpartum IUDs nationally and is developing new policy guidelines for implementation.
• RESPOND provided critical technical review and input to USAID, WHO and UNFPA to design and develop the Training Resource Package for Family Planning, a web-based "go-to" library of FP curriculum components and tools. The Package will become widely available next fiscal year to the public health community for use in the design, implementation and evaluation of family planning training.
• RESPOND developed the technical content for a LA/PM section of the MEASURE Evaluation's online FP/RH indicators database, enabling programs to better assess their success at expanding contraceptive choice through the introduction of LA/PMs.