{"id":5340,"date":"2021-02-05T15:47:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/reflecting-on-the-impact-of-family-planning-voices\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:28:15","slug":"reflecting-on-the-impact-of-family-planning-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/fr\/reflecting-on-the-impact-of-family-planning-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Impact of Family Planning Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My interview with Kyomuhangi Debra<\/a>, a family planning client at an MSI clinic in Kampala was a team effort. We sat outside under the shade of the clinic\u2019s awning, the clinic manager interpreting from English to Luganda for us, as Debra held her baby in her arms while her three-year old son disassembled my pens and played with the microphone. I felt a kinship with Debra\u2015I had two young daughters back home in Chicago\u2015and was grateful for her willingness to talk even though she was clearly busy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Debra wanted to wait a few years before having another child. \u201cI got my IUD six weeks after my youngest son was born\u2026. It sounded like a nice option without many side effects,\u201d she told me. I had done the same after my youngest daughter was born. \u201cI\u2019ve been having lower abdominal pain since I started using it,\u201d she continued. \u201cI will talk to my health provider and see what they recommend.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Before I could help myself, I told her, \u201cI had the same problem. The first few months were rough. But now the cramping has subsided. I\u2019m glad I gave it time.\u201d Debra nodded as the manager interpreted.<\/em><\/p>\n

Later, the family planning provider came over as I was packing up my things. \u201cI don\u2019t know what you said to her, but before, she was thinking about having her IUD removed. After the interview, she decided to keep it and give it a little more time!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Though Debra and I lived a world apart, that day we connected as two moms doing our best to care for ourselves and our young children. Two people whose family planning decisions\u2015like those of many\u2015are informed by the stories of people we trust: sisters, friends, colleagues, providers, influencers. As FP Voices showed, stories have the power to inform and to connect us, from a very personal level to a global level. Hearing so many of those stories firsthand was a great honor. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Liz Futrell, Former Project Lead of Family Planning Voices<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Family Planning Voices (FP Voices), a storytelling initiative launched by the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project<\/a> and Family Planning 2020 (FP2020), began with the idea of adapting the wildly popular Humans of New York series, to tell the personal and human stories from those who are passionate about family planning. This initiative sought to elevate the voices of those working in family planning as well as those benefiting from family planning services by interviewing and showcasing quotes from program implementers, donors, service providers, religious leaders, community members, and clients, among others. The carefully curated quotes were accompanied by photographs, many of them headshots taken by a professional photographer, and posted to the FP Voices website<\/a> and social media, using #FPVoices. Launched in 2015 prior to the International Conference on Family Planning, FP Voices quickly grew momentum in the family planning community, resulting in more than 600 individual voices being captured through more than 1,000 posts to the FP Voices website and social media.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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