IUSSP Panel on Rethinking FP Measurement with a Reproductive Justice and Rights Lens Activities

March, April and May 2024

In the follow-up to the Expert Group Meeting on “Assessing approaches to demand-side family planning measurement with a reproductive justice and rights framework” they organized in Mombasa, Kenya March 5-7, 2024, the IUSSP Panel on Rethinking Family Planning Measurement with a Reproductive Justice and Rights Lens is organizing a series of sessions and side meetings at conferences and other venues around the globe to engage more broadly with those working on family planning (FP) measurement across diverse global settings to get feedback on what these new measures should be and introduce the concept of Reproductive Justice and Rights to those who are unfamiliar with this movement.

On April 17th, the Panel, in collaboration with the USAID-funded Agency for All Project, hosted a sidebar session at the Population Association of America meetings in Columbus Ohio on “Fertility and FP Measurement Double Feature: Updates on Measurement with a Person-Centered Lens and Measuring Individual and Community Agency.” The session was attended by 32 people and included two presentations. The first presentation summarized the Mombasa, Kenya Expert Meeting. The second presentation titled “From Intention to Action: Conceptualizing Agency in Understanding Fertility Outcomes” provided an overview of activities underway by the Agency for All project. The presentations were followed by a large group discussion and then breakout group discussions related to person-centered family planning measurement and agency measurement.

On May 23, the Panel co-organized a side session on Family Planning Measurement Reimagined in collaboration with the AFIDEP Team-Up research project on traditional methods at the 9th African Population Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi. The session, chaired by Naa Dodoo (AFIDEP), began with presentations by Naa Dodoo and Nurudeen Alhassan of the results of the AFIDEP Team-Up research project on traditional methods of contraception. This was followed by presentations from Jamaica Corker, Abdoul Moumouni Nouhou (IUSSP Panel Member), Tosin Oni, and Mahesh Karra covering deliberations from the Panel’s Mombasa meeting to develop new, more person-centered FP measures followed by a lively Q & A session.

Approximately 30 conference delegates attended the session. They were a mix of sexual reproductive health researchers, people working on FP programming, policy makers, and parliamentarians from the region and beyond. The attendees were especially interested in the new FP measures and posed many questions. There was also enthusiasm expressed during the Q&A about adding new and different measures in the DHS and other surveys.

Both of these sessions elicited great interest in the Panel’s work and eagerness to participate in rethinking the future of family planning measurement.

The Panel intends to continue discussions for a new measurement agenda in different forums and support the development of a Call-to-action and roadmap for reconsidering and revising measurement with new framing. A special journal issue is in planning that will feature papers and commentaries.

The full report on the Mombasa meeting is now available here.