The FP INFOcus Guide

A “For Youth, By Youth” Approach to Sharing Family Planning Information Using Mobile Phone Videos

There are nearly 2 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 living in our world today. Each of them are regularly making sexual and reproductive health decisions that will impact their future health, well-being and ability to achieve their dreams. Unfortunately, they also face barriers to accessing the key family planning (FP) information needed to help them with these important decisions. This is especially true for intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, also known as long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). These barriers include lack of knowledge, false rumors about side effects and safety, and limited access to providers with LARC skills and counseling.

To help overcome these challenges, the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) has created the FP INFOcus Guide, a tool that encourages young sexual and reproductive health champions between the ages of 18 and 24 to come together to create and promote short videos that share contraceptive knowledge and model key skills – all using their mobile phones. The Guide promotes the use of participatory video and mobile first approaches to create videos that feature authentic voices and perspectives, in a way that is quick and easy, low budget and based on technology that many already have in their pockets. When FP INFOcus videos are shared on social media and viewed by others on mobile phones, viewers have the opportunity to privately learn about their FP options and will be better equipped to make informed contraceptive decisions.

The Guide includes everything readers need to prepare, produce and promote mobile phone videos to improve youth awareness of their full range of contraceptive options. It is intended for a variety of audiences, including groups of young FP champions, youth-led organizations, youth-focused professionals and individual FP users who want to share their experiences with a particular method.

The main body of the Guide is available to download, as are the individual appendices.

Appendix A: FP INFOcus Worksheets and Templates to facilitate video planning and production [En Español]

Appendix B: HACEY’s FP INFOcus Sample Materials to reference as teams move through the video-making process [En Español]

Appendix C: Story Ideas to spark creativity [En Español]

Appendix D: FP Information Factsheets to ensure that video content is accurate and up-to-date

Appendix E: Additional Resources to learn more about a particular topic presented in the Guide [En Español]

HC3 has been working with a youth-focused organization in Nigeria, the HACEY Health Initiative, to pilot the Guide and approach. The lessons learned from this process have been incorporated into the Guide.

We encourage you to test out the Guide and share your experiences using the FP INFOcus discussion page on Springboard for Health Professionals or posting on social media using the hashtag #fpINFOcus.

 The FP INFOcus Guide

 Guía de información y enfoque de la PF en Español