IPPF wanted to use their second round of innovation funding to explore an idea that was new and do it in a systematic way that would result in clear findings and evidence that the sector could learn from. After receiving proposals from many of their member associations (MAs), IPPF chose to fund three MAs that wanted to explore mHealth: TFPA in Tajikistan, CIES in Bolivia and PFPPA in Palestine. This three year innovation project explores mobile health (mHealth) as an effective platform for creating awareness and enhancing choice around contraception.

IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation) works in 170 countries to empower the most vulnerable women, men and young people to access life-saving services and programmes, and to live with dignity. For this project they decided to engage LSHTM (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) as the academic partner to run a randomised control trial, and Aptivate as the technical partner to review the technical environment and advise on suitable technology choices.

Our main involvement was in the first three weeks of each project. Two members from our team travelled to each location and worked with the MA. We shared our participatory discovery process with the MA staff and together facilitated workshops with young people to learn more about their needs, as well as their access to technology and their technology preferences. Alongside this, we investigated the mobile infrastructure in the country and assessed the viable mobile technologies available.