Delivering Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Family Planning in Kenya

The Delivering Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Family Planning (DESIP) programme is working to ensure more people have access to and use family planning services across 19 counties in Kenya.

The programme is funded by UKAid. Its aim is to reduce inequalities to accessing family planning by ensuring availability of and demand for family planning commodities through sustainable involvement of the private and public sectors.

Options is leading on increasing national ownership of family planning, by strengthening government stewardship and ensuring that commitments are delivered on at both national and county level.

We have developed an innovative ‘learning lab’ approach which supports our partners to deliver proven successful interventions that have been implemented in learning lab counties. The 19 counties in which the programme works, with some of the lowest Contraception Prevalence Rates (CPR) in the country, have been divided up into five clusters. We are working with the Ministry of Health at the national level, and in one ‘learning lab county’ within each cluster, rolling out our findings across the other counties.

Our approach

At national level and within the five learning lab counties, our work focuses on:

• Policy & planning by ensuring relevant policies and legislative frameworks are in place and that Costed Implementation Plans for family planning are developed, implemented and monitored.
• Financing for family planning, including building capacity for programme-based budgeting and budget tracking, and implementing strategies for a total market approach.
• Family planning commodity security, including implementing and monitoring a commodity security strategy.
• Leadership and governance, supporting government to act upon family planning commitments and strengthen coordination mechanisms.
• Evidence and accountability, supporting use of data for decision-making and advocacy.

By the end of the programme, the aim is for the national and sub-national governments to have invested enough in family planning to deliver on their commitments, and for policies to be in place to ensure lasting change.

The DESIP consortium is led by Population Services Kenya and includes African Medical and Research Foundation, HealthRight Kenya, Faith2Action, Population Services International, VSO Kenya and Options Consultancy Services Limited.