{"id":5704,"date":"2021-09-02T15:03:02","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T15:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/west-africas-knowledge-management-challenges\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T12:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:48:01","slug":"west-africas-knowledge-management-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmtraining.org\/fr\/west-africas-knowledge-management-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling West Africa\u2019s Knowledge Management Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In West Africa, the Ouagadougou Partnership<\/a> (OP) is a success story in delivering critical family planning and reproductive health outcomes<\/strong>. In 2011, the OP, a nine-member coalition of Benin, Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo committed itself to increasing the number of women using modern contraceptive methods by at least one million between 2011 and 2015 and by 2.2 million between 2016 and 2020. Its 2020 report<\/a> noted that the partnership had impressively exceeded this goal. Over 3.8 million users of modern family planning methods\u2014above the overall target of 3.2 million\u2014were registered.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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The success of the Ouagadougou Partnership, however, does not imply that the francophone Africa family planning and reproductive health ecosystem lacks shortcomings. A mapping activity of family planning and reproductive health stakeholders and co-creation workshop series<\/a> conducted in the region in June 2020 by Knowledge SUCCESS noted that while there were laudable family planning and reproductive health initiatives and strategies to deliver targeted outcomes, the impact of such initiatives had not been documented<\/strong> or shared with stakeholders. There were ineffective information generation and dissemination tools. Organizations, coalitions, networks, and Technical Working Groups had limited capacity in family planning and reproductive health knowledge management\u2014a strategic and systematic process of collecting and curating knowledge and connecting people to it so they can act effectively.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Knowledge SUCCESS set out to address the identified regional knowledge management challenges. The USAID-funded global project seeks to infuse knowledge management culture and practice<\/strong> in key global and regional family planning and reproductive health networks. The project aims to build a broad stakeholder base<\/a> that will collaborate to improve uptake of family planning and reproductive health knowledge and related health outcomes. A\u00efssatou Thioye is the Senior Technical Officer, Research Utilization at FHI 360, and West Africa Knowledge Management and Partnerships Officer for Knowledge SUCCESS.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Knowledge Management Practices in West Africa<\/h3>\n

\u201cAfter a mapping activity of the different family planning and reproductive health stakeholders in the region, I conducted virtual orientation activities on the basics of knowledge management,\u201d says Thioye. \u201cMost notably I engaged Amplify Family Planning and actors of the family planning Costed Implementing Plans (CIPs) in Niger, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.\u201d In these three countries, and in collaboration with Breakthrough ACTION<\/a> and the ministries of health, particularly the departments in charge of family planning, Knowledge SUCCESS provided technical support<\/strong> to identify needs and concrete knowledge management practices to integrate into the CIPs.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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West African civil society is mobilized around strong coalitions<\/strong>. Thioye observes that thanks to the mobilization around the Ouagadougou Partnership for the achievement of common family planning objectives, efforts in the coordination of knowledge management actions were bolstered.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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The Challenges<\/h3>\n

There are fewer French-language family planning and reproductive health resources\u2014most exist in English. Documentation and dissemination of family planning knowledge in the region is also low, something that is attributed to a lack of more innovative knowledge-sharing practices. Access to information is also hindered<\/strong> by limited or expensive access to the internet (especially by youth).<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Thioye believes that increasing awareness among stakeholders of knowledge management and its importance to programs provides good ground for accelerated family planning and reproductive health outcomes. \u201cKnowing that, consciously or not, we all do knowledge management in our projects is a good starting point to explore the possibilities for improvement, structuring, formalization, and systematic integration of knowledge management practices in programs, and I pay particular attention to such,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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\u201cKnowing that, consciously or not, we all do knowledge management in our projects is a good starting point to explore the possibilities for improvement\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Partnerships<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe co-organized webinars and produced blogs on topical family planning and reproductive health topics with partners in the region, such as the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Family Planning (CS4FP+) and Population Reference Bureau<\/a>. I also joined the Ouagadougou Partnership Youth Think Tank where I am a member of the Dissemination sub-committee as well as an active member of the Senegal Self-Care Trailblazers Group<\/a>. The idea is to join Technical Working Groups where I can support or co-create family planning and reproductive health knowledge management products in the region,\u201d explains Thioye.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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Knowledge SUCCESS has also supported USAID-funded family planning and reproductive health implementing projects in their knowledge management activities in the region<\/strong>, such as:<\/p>\n