Overview

The FC2 Education and Promotion Project, Africa is funded by the Female Health Company and implemented by Pathfinder International. Now in its eight year, the project is currently being implemented in Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda and has previously been present in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Tanzania.

The objectives of this partnership are to advocate for supply and distribution of the female condom; raise awareness of the availability and benefits of the female condom; and increase the capacity of stakeholders, communities, and individuals to generate demand and advocate for increased availability of female condoms.

Pathfinder works towards these objectives by advocating with key stakeholders at multiple levels for improved availability (including procurement, distribution, and monitoring) of female condoms in each country, and disseminating information about female condoms to trainers, distributors, community advocates, health providers, peer educators, and others to build their knowledge, skills, and capacity for raising awareness of female condoms among target populations and communities.

Project Activities

Improve availability of the female condom through advocacy

• Participate in Technical Working Groups (TWG) and meet with other key stakeholders to provide information on and advocacy for the female condom
• Support key stakeholders (UNFPA, USAID, MoH, MoE) with accurate information and data
• Provide training, supportive supervision and mentorship to mainstream ordering and reporting across the supply chain (warehouses, health facility managers, providers, civil society organizations) to prevent FC2 stockouts and maintain availability at facility and community levels
• Provide training to CSOs/CBOs to expand the pool of advocates for the female condom
• Maintain and boost the integration of FC2 education on the other Pathfinder’s projects facilitating and improving project coverage

Ensure trainers, distributors, and community advocates are skilled and confident to provide information on and create demand for the female condom

• Participate and support commemorative dates and campaigns that serve as an opportunity to promote the female condom
• Print and distribute up-to-date IEC materials on FC2
• Train and support local organizations, peer educators, community health workers and youth champions to provide health education on FC2
• Train and support clinical mentors and providers to serve as training-of-trainers and cascade FC2 counseling at the facility level
• Conduct sensitization sessions (awareness creation and demand generation) among communities with high HIV prevalence, high teenage pregnancies, and low uptake of contraception, targeting key populations (adolescents and youth) and other vulnerable groups (sex workers, MSM, etc.), as well as the larger population
• Create/strengthen the use of social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp) to inform and educate the general population about the benefits of FC2 and how to access it
• Utilize innovative strategies and interventions to promote FC2