Peer assists and expert panels are approaches that Knowledge SUCCESS is using to create a customized learning experience between family planning professionals. Because financing for family planning emerged as a recurring theme at the FP2020 Francophone Regional Focal Point Workshop in Dakar, Senegal (March, 2020), FP2020 and Knowledge SUCCESS are connecting countries with experience in specific financing areas with those who need guidance as they begin a new activity.
The first activity in our peer assist series connected government, donor, and civil society representatives in Chad to those in Senegal with expertise on the Global Financing Facility (GFF).
“Senegal has made a lot of progress with GFF, and Chad has started the process but is encountering challenges—especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chad wanted to hear Senegal’s experience to find new avenues that could help them move forward. As the facilitator of the activity, I was responsible for making sure both teams really had all of their expectations met,” explains Aissatou Thioye, the project’s KM Officer for Francophone West Africa.
The structured 90-minute conversation allowed Chadian Focal Points to present their challenge to Senegalese experts before delving into a back-and-forth of questions and answers. Thanks to the in-depth discussion, Chad is now equipped with key recommendations, lessons learned, and resources to improve financing for family planning in their country.
“Peer assists are a great way to spark a peer-to-peer relationship. Our hope is that the teams will continue to contact each other, and will no longer need to go through us. FP2020 Focal Points typically meet only once every year or two at annual workshops, but these peer assists are creating an opportunity for continuous conversations and less formal knowledge sharing,” adds Sarah Harlan.
The FP2020/Knowledge SUCCESS partnership is planning a peer assist in October between Nepal and experts in Sri Lanka to share learnings on postpartum implants. In addition, the partnership is organizing two rounds of expert panels (in English and French) where Rwanda will offer guidance on the business case for voluntary family planning with groups of country representatives from Francophone and Anglophone Africa.
Lastly, Knowledge SUCCESS held a peer assist to share insights with our partners at Amref Health Africa on how to form a Community of Practice (CoP) on Knowledge Management for FP/RH professionals in East Africa. Amref will draw on the project’s successes and lessons learned to realize its vision for a sustainable platform where CoP members can connect, collaborate, and share knowledge.
“Peer assists eliminate the ‘silo’ effect in programming and allow for close collaboration and technical support. It was great to see the whole Knowledge SUCCESS team chipping in towards building the CoP,” says Networks and Partnerships Manager Sarah Kosgei. “This session was unique in that it not only addressed our specific needs as a region but also recommended strategies for moving the knowledge management agenda within the CoP,” added Alex Omari, the project’s KM Officer for East Africa.