Documenting the Implementation and Achievements of the 3D Approach within the National Family Planning Actions Plan in Senegal

© 2011 Adrienne Allison World Vision, Courtesy of Photoshare

Senegal is one of the first of the nine Ouagadougou Partnership member countries to develop a National Family Planning Action Plan (NFPAP), which was launched in 2012. Senegal’s NFPAP calls for a boost in the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from its 2010-2011 DHS reported level of 12 percent to 27 percent by 2015. As part of the NFPAP, Senegal has been implementing the “3D” approach – which stands for democratization, de-medicalization, and decentralization. Democratization entails the use of a multisectoral, participatory approach to facilitate access to family planning services. De-medicalization allows non-medical workers to provide vulnerable populations a wide range of family planning services through community-based distribution. Decentralization refers to the strengthening of health systems at regional, district, and community levels while enhancing good governance, accountability, and intersectoral collaboration.

Senegal’s current NFPAP is ending in 2015, making this an optimal time to document the 3D approach, describe lessons learned from its implementation, and share related good practices with other Ouagadougou Partnership member countries and beyond. Specifically, the study is (1) documenting the key contributions of the 3D approach to family planning in the context of the NFPAP; (2) investigating how implementation of the 3D approach may have contributed to achievement of NFPAP’s family planning indicators; and (3) exploring from an equity perspective task shifting and community-based delivery activities implemented as part of de-medicalization and decentralization strategies to enhance provision of family planning services. The documentation of the 3D approach will also inform the development of the next NFPAP.

Multiple actors, including the Ministry of Health, USAID/Senegal and the Ouagadougou Partnership, are being engaged at various stages of the study in order to contribute to and benefit from the findings.