New Tool for Integrating Knowledge Management in Family Planning Costed Implementation Plans
Between 2021 and 2023, Knowledge SUCCESS collaborated with West Africa Breakthrough ACTION (WABA), Health Policy Plus (HP+), and others to integrate knowledge management (KM) into the family planning Costed Implementation Plans (CIPs) of five West African countries—Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. This process largely involved facilitating virtual KM trainings, providing technical support to ministries of health, and hosting in-person workshops.
Knowledge SUCCESS used the learnings from this work to inform the development of a new checklist, available in English and French, with valuable inputs from Breakthrough ACTION, Togo’s director of child and maternal health, and other key government stakeholders. The downloadable tool allows other countries across the globe to independently assess the way they develop, implement, and evaluate their CIPs—and ensure that KM is integrated throughout the process.
Why is the integration of KM into CIPs important?
Costed Implementation Plans (CIPs) are multi-year roadmaps that reflect a government’s priority activities to achieve family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) outcomes. Whether the plans exist at the national or sub-national level, they give donors and partners a clear idea of how to collaborate with the government and other key stakeholders, and where to meet them in terms of family planning gaps and priority actions.
Integrating KM interventions into CIPs and other national strategies is crucial to avoid inefficiencies and duplication of effort in programs, better coordinate resources across stakeholders and institutions, and ensure programs are learning as they are doing. In fact, findings from a recent assessment conducted by Knowledge SUCCESS of KM integration into CIPs revealed the multifaceted ways KM contributes to stronger FP/RH outcomes and more efficient use of limited resources.
Common KM priorities that are finding their way into CIPs include documenting lessons learned, sharing what works and what doesn’t in FP/RH programming, and translating research and evidence into implementation. Stakeholders place collaboration, in particular, at the top of their agenda, and use lessons learned from the CIP to inform and/or reorient strategies and interventions, in order to adapt actions on the basis of best practice and lessons learned, for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
What is the purpose of the checklist?
Organized by the topic areas of 1) Planning, 2) Implementation, 3) Monitoring & Evaluation, and 4) Human, Technological, and Financial Resources, this checklist is designed to help governments identify potential KM gaps in current CIP implementation. Additionally, when a country is considering drafting its very first CIP, this checklist can be used to assess the KM needs that can be addressed. It will help ministries of health, donors, technical and financial partners, and other stakeholders responsible for the assessment, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of CIPs to ensure the existence and strategic use of KM tools and techniques.
In addition to informing CIPs, this checklist can be used in the development of strategic plans for FP/RH, to engage stakeholders in considering KM, developing a formal KM strategy, implementing the strategy, and monitoring and evaluating it.
Once scored, the checklist will give users a better understanding of whether their KM practices are at the beginner, intermediate, or advanced stage. Links to supporting resources are also provided to help users advance their KM practice.
Join us for a webinar on December 11, 2024, where we will share more guidance on how to use the checklist most effectively with your team. Click here to register.
Ready to use the checklist? Click the buttons below to download the tool:
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