50 Family Planning Champions trained to advocate for increased support and domestic resources for Family Planning in Uganda

DSW is an international development and advocacy organisation. Our focus is on achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).DSW Uganda was established in 1999 and currently operates in 8 districts including; Kampala, Wakiso, Masindi, Mukono, Mityana, Jinja, Kamuli, Kiryadongo Busia and Tororo. In these districts, DSW works in partnership with the local Government administration and implements different project

Friday 24^th Feb 2016

In repositioning of Family Planning Champions to better advocate for increased support and resources for Family Planning in Uganda, over 50 Champions were reconvened for refresher training in family planning advocacy at Bonita Training centre Lubowa.

The 2 day training included understanding Family Planning Concepts, the budget –making process, documentation and report writing and accountability in addition to experience sharing by the champions since the last training.

The Family Planning (FP) Champions are expected to go a long way in ensuring that local governments prioritize Family Planning, and help avert the myths and perceptions about it and with the budget process starting to pick momentum, DSW thought it important to empower the champions to better advocate for FP budget allocation in the district local governments of Kamuli, Mityana, Tororo and Mukono were the SHAPE project is being implemented.

According to Mona Herbert, the country Director DSW Uganda use of FP Champions is a key and effective concept towards local budget advocacy and to the aversion of the negative perceptions and myths about FP. We underscore the importance of such trainings to empowering you in building good will and broad base support across constituencies including community, religious and political leadership structures on FP. He remarked

Mona Herbert, the Country Director, DSW addresses the FP Champions during training at Bonita Training centre recently

Mona told the Champions that the approach to FP advocacy should not only be about the commodities but rather the social and economic benefits of producing the manageable number of children such as the capacity to send their children in good schools, the prevention of maternal and newborn morbidity, and transmission of HIV, control of GBV that that have of rate been rampant in the country.

Examples of how champions can strengthen family planning programs include:

1.    Policy Advocacy: At national and county levels, champions play a key role in advocating for relevant policies that set the agenda for family programs and the needed support infrastructure and resources for the operationalisation of those policies.

2.    Mobilizing community support: Community level champions are trend setters and initiators of change. When they speak positively to communities on the importance of family planning for quality life through, they help in dispelling myths and misperceptions about family planning services Are role models: When they share their positive experiences as users of FP, they instill confidence in potential clients and help nudge those undecided into becoming acceptors of FP

The champions drawn from the districts of Kamuli, Mityana, Tororo and Mukono were the shape project is apparently being implemented in Uganda.

By David Turyamusiima