Advance Family Planning (AFP)

Dates: 2013-2020

Role: Subcontractor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Donors: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett

The Advance Family Planning (AFP) Project aims to expand access to quality contraceptive information, services and supplies through advocacy measures consistent with Family Planning 2020.

OBJECTIVES

  • Obtain reaffirmation by the President of the Republic the country’s commitment to family planning at the 4th National Conference to Reposition Family Planning in December 2019.
  • Increase to at least $2.5 million the line item in the national budget for contraceptive procurement.
  • Obtain the release of at least 80% of the funds budgeted for contraceptive procurement.
  • Obtain a commitment from at least four mining companies operating in DRC to finance family planning by October 2020.

The DRC is one of seven focus countries participating in the global initiative as of 2020. The primary intervention of AFP is advocacy. AFP’s SMART—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound—advocacy approach focuses on opportunities that have the highest potential for success in the near term. It connects short-term advocacy strategies and wins with broad, long-term goals.

Over the 8-year life of the AFP project, advocacy wins in the DRC have included a public statement by the DRC government of its commitment to family planning at the 2013 International Family Planning Conference, government financing of contraception procurement (an important “marker” of commitment), and the passage of a national law that authorizes access to contraception for all women of reproductive age. AFP has also been instrumental in the expansion of the CTMP (family planning stakeholders group) from the national level to a total of 14 provinces (of the 26 in the DRC).

Further information about the Advance Family Planning Project can be found at: https://www.gatesinstitute.org/advance-family-planning