Strengthening Capacity in Kenya for Increased Provision of IUDs and Implants

The Kenyan government's Kenya Vision 2030 calls for increasing the current contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from 39% to 70% recognizing that population growth affects national development goals. In 2008, the Division of Reproductive Health (DRH) published its Strategy for Improving the Uptake of LA/PMs and asked RESPOND to support implementation in the Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces, which have the greatest unmet need in Kenya. The approach the DRH and RESPOND adopted was a low-cost, sustainable form of in-service training that included the development and pilot of an LA/PM training package and transference of skills by cascade: international and local Master Trainers trained and supervised providers, who leveraged local resources to train their peers.

With technical assistance from RESPOND, the DRH trained 56 providers in three Trainings of Trainers (TOTs) on long-acting methods and minilaparotomy for female sterilization. These participants then trained 75 providers in five cascade workshops using leveraged local resources: 92% passed the competency-based assessment and earned DRH certification in long-acting methods. With support from RESPOND, the DRH also conducted a facilitative supervision training of supervisors for the cascade trainees' facilities. As a result, the DRH has experienced substantial increases in the use of long-acting methods in cascade trainees' facilities. In May 2011, cascade trainees inserted seven times more IUDs and 25 times more implants than they did in same month of the prior year. And an additional 13 public health facilities now offer implants and an additional five public health facilities now offer the IUD.  The project resulted in a mainstreamed national LA/PM training package for in-service training that will be scaled up throughout the country. By June 2011, the DRH was already drawing upon its new corps of trainers to facilitate LA/PM training workshops as part of a Rapid Results Initiative in Nyanza province.

Related Links

Project Brief #4
Kenyan Family Planning Providers Leverage Local Resources to Train Their Peers on Long-Acting and Permanent Methods (PDF, 3MB) September 2011