Community-based family planning brings family planning information and methods to the communities where men and women live rather than requiring them to visit health facilities. Many governments and their partners see this as a solution to the human resource challenges of health care systems around the world. In some countries, community health workers already resupply family planning methods and refer women for other contraceptive services. In other countries, community health workers do not yet provide family planning services as part of their workload.

PROGRESS worked specifically to support community health workers in expanding the mix of family planning methods they can provide. One of the objectives of this work was to help make community-based access to injectable contraception a standard of practice globally. A two-page summary of PROGRESS activities and their impact on community-based access to injectable contraception is available here [PDF, 1.4 MB]. PROGRESS efforts in community-based family planning were focused in the following areas:

• Research on community-based family planning
• Country-based leadership on expanding access to injectable contraceptives
• Global leadership in community-based family planning

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.