1. Short presentation of Universal Access to Female Condom Joint Programme

Transcription

1 Terms of Reference UAFC impact research 1. Short presentation of Universal Access to Female Condom Joint Programme The Universal Access to Female Condom Joint Programme, which started in 2008 is an ambitious programme aimed to make the female condom accessible, affordable and available for all. Its goals are to contribute to a decrease in new infections with HIV and STIs and of unwanted pregnancies, as well as to enable women to eercise power over their own seual and reproductive health. To realise its goals UAFC has a three-fold strategy: a. Supporting Research and Development on female condoms and their actual manufacturing; including promotion of choice and reduction of costs as well as epanding overall production capacity. b. Two large-scale FC country programmes in Nigeria and Cameroon, including a comprehensive package of activities to increase the demand for female condoms in order to ensure a steady supply of the commodity and to ensure that the female condoms (as well as training and IEC activities) are included in regular service provision within ongoing national programmes. c. National and international advocacy to ensure that the female condom gets the attention it deserves by putting it on the political agenda and ensuring funding. A more systematic approach to linking and learning, which includes input into the programme and international advocacy from various actors and from past eperiences. The programme was initiated by four Dutch organisations; the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ofam Novib, i+ solutions and World Population Foundation (WPF), who contracted local organisations for the two large-scale country programmes. 2. Scope of the research Subjects The UAFC Joint programme regularly gets questions from (potential) donors, policy makers and program developers to provide evidence based data and especially on the following topics; - the acceptability of the female condom; - the impact of female condom programming on the HIV epidemics and the rates of unwanted pregnancies; - on the influence of male involvement on the uptake of the female condom use. As the majority of FC eisting research focuses on acceptability of female condoms while no evidence based data eists on the impact of female condom use on HIV rates and numbers of unwanted pregnancies and a only some information on male involvement, the UAFC joint programme wants to focus its research on the last two subjects; impact on HIV rates and number of unwanted pregnancies and male involvement. Also because this subjects relate directly to UAFC Joint programmes goals to contribute to a decrease in new infections with HIV and STIs and of unwanted pregnancies, and to enable women to eercise power over their own seual and reproductive health. The female condom is the only female initiated double protection method it is believed to be an enabling factor for women have power over their seual en reproductive health. But although female initiated, male support is 1

2 needed for the use of female condoms as man will almost always notice the use of female condom. Countries As the findings of the research will be more convincing if research will be conducted also beyond the UAFC country programmes and female condom distribution in Nigeria and Cameroon only started in 2009, Zimbabwe will be included as a third country for the research. Zimbabwe is well known for its female condom program and interested to be included in the research. 3. Research objectives Informed by the demand of donors to have data on the impact of the large scale female condom programmes, the UAFC Joint Programme has formulated the following research objectives: - to assess the impact of the large scale country programmes in Nigeria, Cameroon and Zimbabwe on HIV rates and the number of unwanted pregnancies in these countries - to assess the impact of the large scale country programmes in Nigeria, Cameroon and Zimbabwe on women s power over their own seual and reproductive health in these countries 4. Research questions To assess these impacts of the large scale country programmes, the following research questions need to be answered. - Does the female condom contribute to a decrease in HIV rates and the number of unwanted pregnancies? - What is the role of men in the acceptance and use of female condom? This first question links directly with the first objective of assessing the impact on HIV rates and the number of unwanted pregnancies. The second question links to the second object of assessing the impact of FC on women s power over their own seual and reproductive health. As the female condom is the only female initiated double protection method it is believed to be an enabling factor for women have power over their seual en reproductive health. But although female initiated, male support is needed for the use of female condoms as man will almost always notice the use of female condom. Therefore it is important to look at the role of men in the acceptance and use of FC. 5. Research methodology The research methodology and design will be developed by the researcher(s) in close collaboration with the UAFC research committee. This paragraph states only some directions/suggestions for the research; Use of eisting data To monitor progress of the country programmes Knowledge, Attitude & Practices (KAP) have been carried out for baseline information. Besides KAP, the supply chain 2

3 is monitored through regular MAP (Measuring Access and Performance) studies and progress through TRaC (Tracking Results Continuously) studies. Monitoring information of the large-scale female condom country programmes eists on: - the number of condoms sold and distributed for free - the number of person reached through IEC activities Baseline information eists on: - number of people who ever heard of the female condom; - knowledge of female condom; - attitudes of men and women towards the use of female condoms; - number of women/couples using female condom; - only for Nigeria: population of women/couples that uses female condom as their preferred contraceptive method. Early 2011 mid-term evaluation data will be available on the same indicators. It is preferred that the research will start with these eisting data available. In case other data are needed, field research can be discussed. For field research it is however important to keep in mind that ethical approval is needed in Nigeria as well as in Cameroon, this can take over a month time. Comparative study As Cameroon, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have large scale programs, it will be interesting to look at the differences in the programs and its outcomes and make comparison between the impacts on the two goals. 6. Epected outputs The following documents and reports are epected 1. Research plan - Draft research plan including the following - Detailed description of methodology and data gathering methods - Detailed plan and budget - Methodological challenges and how these are taken into account - References - Final research plan 2. Research report - Draft research report of 50 pages ma (ecluding annees) is epected including the following; - An eecutive summary - The objectives as stated in the terms of reference - A justification of the methods and techniques used, with a justification of the selections made - An indication of any limitations of the research - Presentation of the findings and their analysis - Conclusions - Final research report 3

4 3. Presentation of research findings UAFC Joint programme plans a female condom conference at the end of 2011, where the researcher(s) will present the findings. 4. Published article Based on the findings of the research, the researcher(s) will at least publish one article in a relevant journal is epected. 7. Research team The research team needs to have eperience and epertise in the following areas: - Seual Reproductive Health and Rights (including STIs and HIV/AIDS and preventive methods) - Gender (& male influence on use of contraceptives and prevention methods) - Impact evaluation Furthermore a good track record in publications in relevant areas is required. Language skills: English and French 8. Management arrangements For the research UAFC Joint Programme will set up a Research Committee consisting of the coordinator of the programme (Lucie van Mens) and the programme officer in charge of research (Cobi Mars). 9. Tentative timeframe Selection of researchers Jan 2011 Feb March April/ May/ June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 2011 Research plan Desk research Field research Nigeria, Cameroon & Zimbabwe Draft report Comments on draft report Final report Presentation of research findings Article ready for Publication 4

5 10. Budgets Total budget for the research is ranging from 75,000 to Euro, inclusive transport; accommodation cost etc and inclusive 20% of ta. 5