“This CoP and its resources were invaluable to one of our FP projects over the last few years.”
Katelyn Bryant-Comstock, Knowledge Management and Publications Advisor, IntraHealth International, August 2022
Learning from each other through sharing experiences is as old as humankind. When a group of people share a common passion and interact regularly to get better at their common concern, a “community of practice” is born. That’s exactly what happened a decade ago when founders (USAID, IBP, E2A, ExpandNet) launched the Systematic Approaches for Scale-Up of Family Planning/Reproductive Health Best Practices Community of Practice. Since that time, the practice of scale-up, and even the term itself, emerged to become the prevailing course of action for effective family planning programs and information. What a powerfully fruitful learning experience we have shared through this diverse group of global FP/RH implementers, researchers, donors and decision makers!
Scale-up is not outdated in spite of its maturation and the accomplishments of this COP. Scale-up takes a lot of work and careful consideration. It will always be part of the conversation and still needs attention, advocacy, and tools within the FP/RH domain. While the FP/RH Scale-up COP will no longer be convened by the R4S project, we are excited to announce the migration of our members to the Health Technical Working Group of the Global Community of Practice on Scaling Development Outcomes. With 2000+ members from over 200 institutions, this is an excellent platform for continuing to develop partnerships and to exchange approaches to scaling up development interventions.
There are a few final opportunities we want to be sure you are aware of.
Please see this link for a Round up for Scale-up: A Collection of Tools. This compilation was created by members of the FP/RH Scale-up COP as part of the July 2022 IBP Network Partner Meeting session, Scale-up Tools and Their Application.
Check out the existing curated collections of scale-up resources on the FP insight tool created by Knowledge SUCCESS. The collections are built by and for family planning and reproductive health professionals.
For those attending the International Conference on Family Planning in Thailand in November, be sure to search the program for scale-up sessions and make note of these two events:
- Pre-conference: Shifting to a Platform Mindset: Locally Led Solutions for Scaling High-Impact Practices on Monday, Nov. 14. The Challenge Initiative hosts this reflection session with local government leaders.
- Take It to Scale: Engaging with the Experts is one of eight sessions in the IBP Network track on Program Implementation on Tuesday, Nov 15. The session includes a panel and knowledge café to explore scale-up challenges and share tested solutions, strategies, and tools.
Carry on, scale-up aficionados! We bid you a fond farewell knowing that we will continue to work with many of you in the Health Technical Working Group and in other venues and activities. Until then…
Kirsten, Trinity, Sarah B., and Sarah D. FHI 360, Research for Scalable Solutions
“Scaling up helps to reach our goals. We need it to meet contraceptive need, enhance the health of women and girls, reduce maternal death and empower family planning users to make informed reproductive health decisions. …Without being taken to scale those wonderful pilots are not extended to the larger community, to more people that can benefit from those family planning services.”
Maria Carrasco, Senior Implementation Sciences Technical Advisor
Research and Technical Utilization Division, Office of Population and Reproductive Health, USAID
FP/RH Scale-up COP Meeting March 2, 2022