Window of
Opportunity:
Strategies to Reach
First-time Parents
Callie Simon and Sarah Mehta
Pathfinder International
Regina Benevides
E2A Project/Pathfinder International
Gwyn Hainsworth
Pathfinder International
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will be
able to:
• Describe why it is important to reach first
time parents (FTPs) to improve SRH and
gender-related outcomes
• Identify potential strategies for reaching
FTPs, considering their unique
characteristics and influencers
Session Overview
1. Presentation: Who are FTPs?
2. Group work: Major barriers for FTPs to
space pregnancies and seek other health
services
3. Report out of group work
4. Presentation: Recommendations from
literature review and key program strategies
5. Q & A and discussion
Who are FTP?
Young women under the
age of 25 who are
pregnant or already have
one child and their
partners
Why FTPs?
• Maternal and child health
– Mothers and babies are healthier if there is at
least 24 months between last birth and next
pregnancy
• Gender and social norms
– Opportunity to form more equitable relationships
and shift norms around childrearing
– Opportunity to promote positive parenting
– Opportunity to increase young women's social
capital
Diversity of FTPs
Age
Religion
Rural/Urban
Married/unmarried
Living with partner’s family/living with her own
family/living with co-wives
• Health status (e.g., living with HIV)
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Group exercise
• Form small groups
• Read scenario and identify the factors that might
prevent FTPs from practicing healthy spacing of
pregnancies or seeking other health services?
Individual
Social
Structural
FTP
literature
review
Objectives of literature review
1. Examine contributing factors that lead to the
high incidence of closely spaced pregnancies
among young married women
2. Highlight interventions from which learning
can be drawn to design programs to reach FTP
3. Provide programmatic recommendations for
reaching FTP based on this learning
4. Highlight gaps in the evidence and suggest
areas for additional research
Methodology
Published and Grey Literature
26 documented interventions
13 selected for in-depth analysis
6 case studies + 2 programs to watch
Program design recommendations
• Build young women’s human and social capital
• Cultivate the support of husbands, parents and
in-laws
• Create an enabling environment for
reproductive health and more equitable gender
norms for FTPs
• Ensure the services exist and can be accessed
• Improve quality of care for young mothers
• Establish supportive laws, policies and systems
Program design recommendations
Combining a number of approaches to offer an
integrated package of information and services
for a woman, her partner, and her support
network is likely to be the most effective way
to improve reproductive decision-making,
increase the use of contraceptives, and to
promote a healthier spacing of additional
children.
Key programming strategies
• Individual
• Social
• Structural
Key programming strategies
Individual
• Home visits, including community based
distribution
• Social asset building, health information sharing,
positive parenting lessons through small groups
• Reflection and dialogue for gender norm
transformation with fathers
• Linkages with health services: vouchers, mHealth,
accompaniment by CHW
Key programming strategies
Couple, family, community
• Peer couple engagement
• Peer-to-peer support groups for mothers in law
• Father/male role models/motivators
• Model family/positive deviance approach
• Home visits for couples or family dialogue
• Health services that invite and involve male
partners
• Community activities to engage religious leaders
and elders
Key programming strategies
Structural
• Integrate “youth-friendly” approaches across FP
and MNCH
• Ensure post-partum contraception to full range of
women/ages/childbearing status
• Integrate FP services and/or referrals in MCH
services
• Integrate health and social services
• Strengthen referrals systems
• Community service delivery/outreach (MNCH and
FP)
Questions
and
discussion
Thank you!
Callie Simon
[email protected]
Regina Benevides
[email protected]
Gwyn Hainsworth
[email protected]