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Project

PROGRESS in Rwanda

PAST PROJECT
Countries
  • Rwanda
Funder
USAID
Duration
2008 - 2013

Rwanda had a large portfolio of PROGRESS work in five of the project’s seven technical areas: community-based family planning, postpartum family planning, mobile technologies for health, expanding the contraceptive method mix, and capacity building and crosscutting research utilization. PROGRESS conducted all of its work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Rwanda’s Family Planning Technical Working Group. The MOH lead all of the PROGRESS-supported work in the country, relying on FHI 360’s in-country staff to provide technical assistance for scale-up, monitoring and evaluation, and new research. Following are selected accomplishments in Rwanda:

  • The MOH scaled up vasectomy services, making Rwanda one of the few African countries to offer vasectomy nationwide. The MOH worked closely with PROGRESS to monitor the expansion of this practice to all 30 districts in the country to help determine how to sustain and expand the service. Details on the innovative vasectomy method and the monitoring findings are available in a series of briefs emphasizing clients and wives [PDF, 484 KB], client dossier (clinical record) [PDF, 353 KB], provider team [PDF, 421 KB] and community health workers (promoters) [PDF, 399 KB].

  • The MOH collaborated on a PROGRESS-supported study to examine factors related to non-use of contraception. The findings, described in this brief (PDF, 396 KB), have been incorporated into Rwanda’s Family Planning Policy and Strategic Plan. A follow-on study examined the influence of providers on contraception use; results are described in this brief [PDF, 582 KB].
  • The MOH asked PROGRESS to adapt the use of mobile technologies for reproductive health in Rwanda and asked its partners working with family planning and youth to incorporate this technology into their future activities. More information on the project is available in this brief (PDF, 829 KB).
  • Beginning in 2010, the MOH and the Family Planning Technical Working Group decided to scale up community-based family planning, with technical assistance from PROGRESS. By 2013, community health workers are scheduled to provide condoms, oral contraceptive pills, injectable contraceptives and the Standard Days Method in all 30 districts. A report of the scale-up efforts is available here [PDF, 305 KB].
  • The MOH partnered with PROGRESS and Jhpiego to investigate the integration of postpartum intrauterine device services into routine maternal and antenatal care. The MOH also trained child immunization providers to understand when postpartum women might be at risk for unintended pregnancy and to refer them to family planning providers, with support from PROGRESS. Results of both studies are included in this postpartum family planning report [PDF, 1.3 MB].

PROGRESS (Program Research for Strengthening Services) was a five-year project awarded to FHI 360 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in June 2008. The project sought to improve access to family planning among underserved populations by providing global technical leadership and working in selected countries.

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