{"id":5702,"date":"2021-08-26T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/knowledge-management-in-east-africa-key-takeaways\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:48:01","slug":"knowledge-management-in-east-africa-key-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/fr\/knowledge-management-in-east-africa-key-takeaways\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge Management in East Africa: Key Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda are unique FP2030 focus countries<\/a> but seem to have a common challenge in the implementation of family planning and reproductive health programs\u2014knowledge management.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Alex Omari, the East Africa Regional Technical Family Planning and Reproductive Health Officer for Knowledge SUCCESS, says that the countries are rich in family planning and reproductive health knowledge, but such information is fragmented and not shared<\/strong>. Instead, knowledge remains with the people implementing projects or within government ministries.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Alex’s observations are echoed in the project’s landscaping and co-creation findings that it has used for strategic planning on the East African family planning and reproductive health ecosystem. It revealed no evidence of formal structures for sharing and institutionalizing family planning and reproductive health knowledge in the region.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Piecing Together the Puzzle<\/h3>\n

To tackle the identified knowledge management challenges, Knowledge SUCCESS mobilized family planning and reproductive health stakeholders in the region to specifically address the knowledge management jigsaw puzzle. \u201cWe hosted and facilitated a family planning and reproductive health Communaut\u00e9 de pratique<\/a>, which serves as a platform for practitioners in the region<\/strong> to generate, manage, and utilize knowledge and information pathways within the family planning and reproductive health discipline,\u201d says Alex.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Knowledge SUCCESS is a USAID-funded global project led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs<\/a> in partnership with Amref Health Africa<\/a>, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics<\/a>, et FHI 360<\/a>. The project champions the strategic and systematic use of knowledge to strengthen health systems and ultimately improve health and development outcomes. Its goal is to help organizations working in family planning and reproductive health collect knowledge and information, organize it, connect others to it, and make it easier for people to use.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The project champions the strategic and systematic use of knowledge to strengthen health systems and ultimately improve health and development outcomes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Family Planning Community of Practice<\/h3>\n

Alex shares that creating the family planning Community of Practice involved strategic engagements with civil society organizations, government ministries of health, and Technical Working Groups. \u201cKnowledge management is a strategic and systematic process of collecting and curating knowledge and connecting people to it so they can act effectively,\u201d he says. \u201cOur members are sharing important updates and current events and holding topical discussions on a variety of subjects such as policy engagement gaps, gender equality and family planning, private sector investment in family planning and reproductive health, maternal health, and the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Composed of policymakers, civil society representatives and program managers, technical advisors, and convenors, Technical Working Groups were targeted<\/strong> because these structures are made up of individuals who advise governments on family planning policies and can contextualize guidelines from a global perspective.<\/p>\n

James Mlali, the Advocacy Technical Manager for Advance Family Planning and a member of a Technical Working Group in Tanzania, enumerates the benefits accrued from the family planning Community of Practice. \u201cMy network has expanded. I have gained skills in the use of online platforms including Zoom and Google Documents. My advocacy skills have greatly been sharpened through the skills-building sessions. I now can conceptualize issues better and propose implementable advocacy solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Role of Partnerships<\/h3>\n

The Community of Practice is forged through collaborations and partnerships<\/strong>. Sarah Harlan, the Partnerships Team Lead at Knowledge SUCCESS, says that this is done to ensure that useful, accurate, and actionable family planning and reproductive health knowledge and information flows up and down the health system\u2014from regional, national, and sub-national levels to the global level and back again. Such knowledge is used consistently to improve systems and policies within family planning and reproductive health and, broadly, across all health sectors.<\/p>\n

Knowledge SUCCESS cooperates with over 40 global, regional, and country-level partners<\/a><\/strong> on activities ranging from developing online content to organizing family planning and reproductive health Communities of Practice, including:<\/p>\n