Resource

Meeting Report

Strengthening the Evidence Base on Social Accountability for Improving Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs

Despite growing interest, significant gaps remain in the evidence of social accountability’s effectiveness in general, and specifically for FP/RH. Many questions remain about how to best employ social accountability interventions within the FP/RH sector and their usefulness and effectiveness in affecting desired change. Does the implementation of accountability interventions in FP/RH programs improve client access to, and quality of, services? What is the evidence for the effectiveness of social accountability interventions’ improvement of client access and quality of services? Which specific accountability interventions are most effective in expanding access to highquality FP/RH programming?

To help answer these and other questions, the Evidence Project convened an expert consultation, “Strengthening the Evidence Base on Social Accountability for Improving Family Planning and Reproductive Health Programs” on July 16-17, 2014 hosted by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, an Evidence Project partner, at their Central Office in London (see Appendix 1 for the meeting agenda).

The overall aim of the meeting was to develop an understanding of social accountability for improving FP/RH programs and to identify gaps in the evidence base that can be addressed by the Evidence Project.