'TheCollaborative' is a coordination and technical support group that brings together all those working on family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH ) issues in the East African region including the Ministries of Health, international and local NGOs, private sector, CSOs, faith-based groups, academia and research institutions. The organizations will come together towards developing networks, nurturing the generation of new knowledge, stimulating innovation, and sharing knowledge. All organizations and persons demonstrating a special interest and involvement in any capacity within the FP/ RH field of practice within the region are eligible to submit an expression of interest to join the CoP.

For effective coordination of the CoP a core group comprising FP/ RH representatives from the four countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda) was created to provide overall guidance and advisory recommendations on the plans, strategies and initiatives of the overall CoP.

The Secretariat

The secretariat works under the guidance of the core group/Advisory Council. The individual members of the secretariat will be from the CoP hosting institution. This is until the CoP is in a good financial position to hire their own secretariat otherwise the secretariat will leverage on some level of effort of FP/RH practitioners in the institution. They will represent the FP/RH department and must be committed to ensure continuity in participation in the secretariat meetings and actions assigned to them.

The Core Group/ Advisory Council

This shall be the coordinating body of the CoP. It shall offer guidance to the secretariat whose role shall primarily be to coordinate the activities and engagements of the CoP. The Core Group will be comprised of 16 FP/ RH representatives from the four countries. Member organizations of the CoP should appoint at least four persons each representing the government (through the Ministry of Health), CSO, NGO and private sector to act as the official representatives in all meetings.

Characteristics of Members of the Core Group

• Individuals who have good understanding of the domain and the knowledge gaps of the domain. They can see the future knowledge requirements and always try to bridge the knowledge gaps existing in the organization. • They are highly respected among community members and this respect is earned by their voluntary approach and knowledge in the FP/RH echosphere. • Have sufficient time and priority for the community. • People willing to share challenges, and lessons learned as well as successes to ensure the COP remains vibrant and achieve its mandate towards collating and sharing best practices, guidelines, knowledge repositories, technical dialogues, fact sheets, and strategies.

Functions of the Core Group

• Determine the learning agenda of the community and continuously build the network for effective knowledge flow. • Coordinate CoP member meetings • Organize CoP meetings regularly and decide on the agenda of the meeting. • Maintain a profile of subject experts and know whom to contact on FP/RH matters. In a short they keep a virtual directory of who's who.

Chairing of the Core Group

In order to ensure proper communication within the core group, the role of chairperson/ stewardship will be assigned on an annual basis through an election. Representative members of the Core group shall vote for two individuals who will act as convener/facilitator of the CoP meetings. These two shall co-chair the secretariat. One of the co-chairs has to be a representative of the MoH.

Roles of the co-Chairs

1. Provide leadership for the CoP, playing a lead role facilitating the FP/RH CoP’s vision and future direction, in collaboration with the Secretariat.
2. Focus on network collaboration, including supporting the establishment of smaller, initiative-specific CoPs within the network or across networks as necessary
3. Provide opportunities for the Secretariat and CoP members to embed FP/RH good practices and learning.
4. Facilitate engagement opportunities with global FP/RH communities and with key partners across the government, business and community sectors.
5. Undertake succession planning for the FP/RH co-chair position in collaboration with the Secretariat.

Members of the CoP

Considering the diversity and inclusivity of the membership of the CoP, in terms of roles, responsibilities and functions, most members are expected as much as possible to support and complement each other such as on:

Effective Coordination

• Members are expected to participate in and attend meetings to identify key FP/RH activities as part of mainstreaming coherent communication in the community. • Members are also expected to share information, both to the COP and to the wider FP/RH communities.

Technical Support

The CoP members are expected to provide technical support in the following areas: • Identify and agree on strategies for providing the technical information needed to design effective communication, accountability and community participation activities • Support a joint/coordinated training on basic communication, accountability and community participation activities as part of capacity building. • Source for and share good existing initiatives, best practices and research undertakings on communications, accountability and community participation. • Promote core tools and other resources or tools emanating from CoP members and partners.

Advocacy

Members should agree and identify local champions on community engagement in various organizations to help mainstream and replicate good practices on communication, accountability and community participation.

Modes of Engagement

Platform/ Database It is envisaged that a platform shall be created to support collaboration and the exchange of FP/ RH information within the region. Within this platform, various activities shall be implemented including but not limited to: • Monthly dialogues: The issues to be discussed shall be proposed by the Core Group and members are encouraged to engage actively, contributing country specific insights • Calendar of events: A calendar of FP/ RH issues shall be published and updated regularly to inform members of the ongoing activities within the region. • Members’ directory: An updated list of the membership of the FP/RH CoP shall be availed within the platform • Resources: A list of resources including publications, toolkits and best practices shall be uploaded onto the platform/ website to ensure ease of access to members.

Emails

Formal communication regarding FP/RH updates and meetings shall be channeled through emails.

Meetings

Regular monthly coordinating meetings shall be organized by the FP/RH Core group to discuss current issues within the echo-sphere and chart out agenda items to be escalated to the member groups.