EFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF COMMUNITY
AND PUBLIC REPRESENTATIVES IN FAMILY
PLANNING PROGRAM
Md. Shamsul Alam Mian
Alliance for Cooperation and Legal Aid
Bangladesh (ACLAB)
OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
General Objective: To identify the ways for effective involvement of
community and public representatives in FP program;
Specific Objectives:
• Assess the perception, attitude, roles and engagement of community
towards family planning program in Bangladesh
• Assess the family planning service gaps that are felt need by the
community and public representatives
• Identify the constrains/challenges of their involvement in FP program
• Identify the reasons for not/less involvement of community and public
representatives in FP program in Bangladesh
• Investigate what should be done to increase their involvement in FP
program
• Identify potential areas and means of contribution of the community
people and public representatives
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
Study design:
-Cross-sectional study. Both quantitative and qualitative
- Document review
- Questionnaire
- Key Informant Interview (KII)
Study Sample and Respondents:
•Geographical coverage:
Divisions (7) Districts (21), Upazilas (21) and Unions (56)
•Sample size: 532
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
Perception
• More than half of the respondents (60%) mentioned “food crisis” as
impact of over population, “increase of crime, murder and robbery” was
the response of 40% respondents. 40% respondent replied “People
become unhappy” as impact of over population.
• Majority (57%) of the respondents responded that Family planning
program is required “for a planned family”, 51% responded as “for a
small and happy family” and 35% as “prosperity of the family
members”
• The findings reveal that relationship of family planning with maternal
and child health was not understood well by the respondents, which
was only about 17%.
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
(CONTD…..)
Service Gaps
• Two-third respondents perceived family planning
services are inadequate
• FP service is poorly working in some rural areas where
accessibility is poor
• Family planning issue has not been given right
importance (45%)
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
(CONTD…..)
Constraints of Family Planning Program
•“ignorance of the people” (64%)
•“religious barriers” (53%),
• “Male are not interested (36%)
• “insufficient workers in the field” (34%)
• “insufficient activities” (27%)
HOW TO OVERCOME THE CONSTRAINTS
•
Increase the number of field worker
•
Arrange training for the field workers
•
Ensure regular monitoring at the filed level
•
Ensure good governance and accountability of
the family planning staff
•
Ensure adequate logistics at the field level
•
Involve local governments to ensure
accountability of the FP staff to them
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
(CONTD…..)
Involvement of Community Leaders and Public Representatives
• Involvement of the community leaders with FP program- 59%
• Community leaders not aware about the FP committees – 46%
• Expressed interest to be involved – 85%
• Talk about family planning program while they talk in public meeting 53%
LESSONS




communities consider family planning activities as the
responsibility of the government.
community leaders and public representatives are
willing to contribute and to take responsibility for the
interest of their own community
community leaders and public representatives are
interested to engage themselves but need process of
involvement
if the local elites and elected representatives came
forward they can contribute to raise adequate funds
for solving health and family planning problems
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Initiative should be taken to make both the Upazila and the
Union level family planning committees functional. The roles
and responsibilities of the different committees should be
defined.
• The family planning committee members should be oriented
on effective organization and conduction of the committees,
roles and responsibly of the committees.
• The Union Parisads can be made the center of activities of
maternal and child health and family planning. The elected
representatives (Chairman and members) should be given
specific responsibilities and they should be accountable for the
enhancement of these activities in their respective localities.
RECOMMENDATIONS(Contd..)
• Family planning activities can be integrated with the Union
Parishad activities
• Elected representatives and community leaders can monitor and
supervise the FP activities at the local level
• Linkage among volunteers/workers, government officials, elected
representatives, community leaders, and users of health and
family planning services needs to be strengthened
• Provision of rewarding/appreciation to the community leaders on
the basis of their performance in achieving the targets for family
planning
Thanks
For
kind Attention