Construire une nouvelle communauté de pratique pour le changement climatique et la santé reproductive

Niger’s climate change and reproductive health community of practice was launched in July 2023, following the implementation of one of the recommendations of the first national youth forum on demography, youth reproductive health, and climate change initiated by the youth advisory council to the Dutch embassy, with technical support from Jhpiego and other partners including the sectoral ministries of health, environment, and education.

By bringing together several stakeholders, including youth and civil society organizations working on this nexus in Niger, we strive to achieve the following objectives:

1. Initiate and encourage innovative actions in the fields of youth reproductive health, climate change, and humanitarian action 
2. Document and share high impact practices 
3. Make available a digital resource platform on the nexus and particularly integrated research and projects
4. Identify and share promotion opportunities at the regional and international level

With 16 member organizations to date, the community of practice has worked hard to strengthen its leadership and governance, as well as reflecting on ways to strengthen its capacities and networking during this first year. With the support from Jhpiego and in collaboration with Knowledge SUCCESS, a leader in knowledge management for family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), we sought the support of LaCollaborative.

We recalled that our CoP focuses on integrated themes, and this choice is linked to the context in Niger, which is faced with multiple challenges. We believe that a holistic and integrated approach to these challenges will lead to a better response and more effective results. However, we needed to better understand how CoPs work, and also to strengthen the capacity of members in this evolutionary process.

A number of questions were posed in this regard, including:

• How can we encourage knowledge sharing within the framework of CoPs? 
• How can we maintain the commitment and inclusive participation of all members of the community of practice? 
• What good practices or initiatives have been successfully implemented to address reproductive health challenges by TheCollaborative? 
• How can we ensure the sustainability of our actions?
• How can we maintain the commitment and inclusive participation of all members of the communauté de pratique?

To our various questions, the team of experts representing TheCollaborative raised many noteworthy points:

• Co-creation: One of the key activities is to identify and respond to the needs of CoP members. For TheCollective, members needed a platform to share their FP/RH experiences, network, and learn.
• Identifying members’ needs: Conduct surveys and gather feedback to understand members’ needs and objectives, such as networking, learning, or sharing FP/RH experiences.
• Organize activities: Hold regular meetings to discuss current FP/RH trends and activities. Create a platform where members can share information and access resources.
• Creation of digital platforms: We are setting up an online database that members can access at any time. In addition, we have created a secure page for members’ discussions and ideas. On this platform, all dialogues are sent by e-mail to their respective addresses so that they don’t miss out on the conversations. On this platform, we also make announcements and have a calendar of events in the region. We’ve also created a WhatsApp group for real-time communication, enabling members to connect outside official meetings as well as encourage ongoing interaction and updates between members.
• Knowledge product development: Collaborate with members to create blog posts, articles, and other knowledge products. Provide platforms for members to present their work at local and international conferences.
• Member engagement and leadership: Form a member-elected committee to guide CoP activities and maintain engagement. Organize face-to-face meetings to strengthen relationships and renew enthusiasm.
• Continuous improvement: Continuously evaluate activities and platforms, making adjustments based on member feedback. Introduce new initiatives and technologies to keep the community dynamic and responsive.

“In this way, we continually engage members in activities they find interesting. The formation of the member-elected steering committee helps to maintain links throughout the year. Last year, we started to organize in-person meetings, which have considerably rekindled interest and momentum among CoP members”, says Irene Alenga, Amref Health Africa/Knowledge SUCCESS.

Our colleagues from TheCollaborative also reminded us that “while the members of the community of practice must be in an institution, the CoP must not be guided by any one institution or organization. Members must be autonomous and committed, with a variety of skills”. 

These answers and orientations were much appreciated by the CoP members who took part in this peer-assist. Finally, next steps were defined to strengthen collaboration between the two CoPs. While we are a national group at this stage, our CoP has the ambition to become regional and to open up to other organizations interested in this integrated issue.