A fresh look at family planning communication

As a step toward development of a national information, education, and communication (IEC) plan, a reassessment of such efforts practiced by the agencies involved was undertaken. A paper published in 1978 by the Research Utilization Unit of the Population Information Division, Population Center Foundation, reviewed materials used and accounts of experience in conceptualizing and communicating family planning messages by 12 private and public sector agencies. The most common concepts employed by the agencies were small family size, responsible parenthood, family welfare, community and national development, birth spacing, delayed marriage, contraceptive use-effectiveness, "manliness," delayed 1st pregnancy, value and rights of children, human behavior and social environment, and population dynamics. Most of the messages were conceptualized and developed through formal and informal consultation with field staff. The need to consider the specific needs of target audiences was considered crucial, and thus decentralization of IEC production was recommended. Such decentralization has been a goal of the Philippine program since 1976, but the effort has been hampered by lack of local training and resources, and of studies to support successful implementation. Mass and mixed media approaches were found to be used by most of the agencies, although a reliance on interpersonal approaches was found to be most prevalent in rural areas. Among recommendations for policy makers were development of a systematized data base for IEC materials, regional capabilities in research and development, and studies of funding and existing resources.     

知识经济与人口发展

知识经济将是经济发展的主流 ,它要求社会对科技有巨大的投入 ,而这种投入对经济和社会有更大的回馈 ;知识产业将成为经济结构中的主导产业 ;知识经济以知识价值为核心 ;在知识经济时代世界经济将形成全球化的新格局 ,并对传统产业进行技术改造。知识经济时代对人口数量的制约因素将主要是环境的和空间的适度 ;对提高人口素质的要求更为迫切 ;人口的经济结构将发生重要变化 ,知识工人将成为社会的主导力量 ;人口分布与迁移也将出现集中化分散化的新特点。知识经济对人口学研究提出了更高要求 ,人口学研究手段要实现现代化和信息化 ;人口学要开放化     

The Philippine population program: a stocktaking

Summarizes findings of the Special Committee to Review the Philippine Population Program, created by the Commission on Population to evaluate population related programs and recommend program directions for the future. The Committee conducted a 2 part study: an indepth review and analysis of existing policies and programs, evaluation of their effectiveness, and identification of organizational, statistical and policy or program related gaps and bottlenecks; and recommendations on policy and program thrusts for the next 5 years. Along with specific recommendations on program operations, service delivery, and research, the Committee made a number of important policy recommendations. Chief among these were a call for the development of a broader popultion policy, not focused only on growth but encompassing demographic, manpower, and welfare components; recognition of the need for the program to advocate an ideal family size and a desirable age for marriage; and redesign of the program on a broad scale to integrate it fully with national development plans.     

Outreach: helping achieve coordination in the field

The outreach officials of the National Population Program of the Philippines, with its 4 basic functions of research, training, information-education-communication, and clinic services, are trying to solve pressing problems which have been an outgrowth of developments of the early 1970s when population and family planning concepts were integrated into other government programs. Given the task of attacking these problems and coordinating the whole program was the newly organized Commission on Population (Popcom). The organizations which had their own programs cooperated with the government agencies. Initially thought of as workable, the early strategy was soon found to be inadequate, and in July 1975, Popcom implemented an integrated development approach in population work. The strategy is complex, and as it undergoes refinement, the program may well profit from the experiences or lessions gained by a number of agencies in carrying out population/development activities. The approach used by the Office of Nonformal Education of the Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement is seen as potentially helpful to the outreach project in developing 3 types of leadership in order to properly integrate or link private and public agencies, and ensure a continuing development program: political, educational, and technical. It is stressed that outsiders can help, but it is the community which must basically do the job themselves. So different government technicians are trained so that they can effectively train other people from the community, and do it in such a way that the program will be continuing and self-releasing.     

Disparities in Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Retailers Over Time and Space

Population Research and Policy Review - The largest public assistance program in the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), relies on private retailers for program...     

Family planning as preventive health measure

The link between health and family planning efforts in the Philippines goes back to the beginnings of the National Population Program. In this interview, Dr. Dumindin of the Ministry of Health (MOh) discusses the impact of family planning on health. The family planning program of the MOH, since its inception in 1970, has undergone expansion and taken new initiatives and directions to meet the changing needs of the target clientele. Family planning information, education, and motivation is provided and maintained during routine prenatal, natal, and postnatal clinic and field activities. As of January 1986, the MOH had a total of 2100 clinics--rural health units, medical centers, hospitals, mobile clinics, and special clinics--all over the country. It is estimated that the Ministry's family planning activities have averted around a million births. It is hoped to extend the coverage of the programs to areas that have not been reached before, through further community involvement, by enlisting the participation of more workers in the community, training them on integrated health and family planning services, setting up more service facilities and clinic extensions, and by improving contraceptive use-effectiveness. Hopefully, the Philippine people will become less program-dependent and more self-motivated, and they will recognize the need for birth spacing, birth limiting, and total health care--not as suggested from the outside, but coming from within themselves.     

A sensitive approach to family planning motivation in Malaysia

The goals of the Malaysian Family Planning Program are not only to reduce population growth from 3% to 2% by 1985 and to bring the crude birth rate to 28.2 from 30.3, but to generally improve the health of the family, and to enhance the government's efforts to raise the per capita income. The work program is divided into the Creative Unit, the Media Unit, the Production Unit, and the Field Diffusion Unit. The objectives are to build up strong support from political, community, and opinion leaders, and to run educational campaigns aimed at motivating potential acceptors. The program also runs centers training medical and paramedical personnel. The program is combined with development programs for women, especially useful among the rural population.     

Discovery learning: an ally in population education

"Discovery learning," as a teaching strategy, is being adopted by the Population Education Program of the Philippines. This approach, it is thought, will help students make up their own mind when it comes to family planning matters by urging them to look at population phenomena "through scientific eyes." It calls for the teacher to play a minor facilitative role rather than a dictatorial one. Numerous obstacles exist to the development of such a program, especially in the areas of teacher training, alteration of classroom logistics, and administrative support. Studies need to be made to determine the relationship between self-discovery and Filipino societal characteristics.     

Population education: a life experience course for the young

The Philippines is the 1st country to adopt an extensive population education program at an early stage of its national population program. Population education is a "life experience" course with the following 5 areas of study: 1) demography, 2) determinants of population growth, 3) consequences of population growth, 4) human sexuality and reproduction, and 5) planning for the future. Many institutions in the Philippines are teaching the course materials and training teachers for the course. Difficulties encountered in initiating the course are: 1) lack of administrative support, 2) lack of cooperation from conservative parents, and 3) an overcrowded curriculum. It has been decided to integrate the aspects of this course into existing areas of the curriculum. Topics for future research in population are outlined. Use of the research was also covered.     

The population program shifts to 'high-scenario' targets

The Philippine Population Program would like to achieve a replacement level of 1 daughter per childbearing woman by the year 2000 to reduce the population growth rate to 2% by 1992. Laing projected that high performance by the National Population Program would mean continued increase of sterilization prevalence at an average 1978-1983 rate. Strategies have been adopted to strengthen information-education-communication efforts, to attain higher contraceptive prevalence rates and use-effectiveness, to develop manpower, to achieve self-reliance, and to effect better program coordination, monitoring, research use. Effective service delivery will be a key to achieving the high-scenario targets. Effective use of natural family planning (NFP), will help in achieving the high-scenario goals. Apart from the heavy demand on NFP follow-up, need for prompt delivery of supplies, and lack of doctors and nurses, other factors may impede the high-scenario targets. Saniel believes that program workers should be allowed to insert IUDs and to dispense pills. Under the cost-recovery and cost-sharing schemes of the high-scenario targets, only sterilization will be done for free. It might affect the campaign for increased acceptors, but the start for self-reliance must happen now.     

Philippines: decentralized approach shows results

In the Philippines several steps have been taken to meet the challenge of increasing population growth. Commencing with the Republic Act 6365, known as the Population Act (1971) program directives focus on achieving and maintaining population levels most conducive to the national welfare. In 1978 a Special Committee was constituted by the President to review the population program. Pursuant to the Committee's findings certain changes were adopted. The thrust is now towards longterm planning to ensure a more significant and perceptible demographic impact of development programs and policies. Increasing attention is paid to regional development and spatial distribution in the country. The 1978-82 Development Plan states more clearly the interaction between population and development. The National Economic and Development Authority, the central policy and planning agency of the government, takes charge of formulation and coordinating the broader aspects of population policy and integrating population with socioeconomic plans and policies. At present the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is implementing a project known as the Population/Development Planning and Research (PDPR) project with financial support from the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). This project promotes and facilitates the integration of the population dimension in the planning process. It does this by maintaining linkages and instituting collaborative mechanisms with the different NEDA regional offices and sectoral ministries. It also trains government planners in ways of integrating population concerns into the development plan. PDPR promotes the use of population and development research for planning purposes and policy formation. The Philippine Development Plan, 1978-82, recognized that an improvement in the level of 1 sector reinforces the performance of the other sectors. Since the establishment of the National Population Program 12 years ago, population and family planning have been successfully integrated with various development sectors, notably, labor, health, and education. Through the policies of integration, multiagency participation, and partnership of the public and private sectors, the Commission on Population uses existing development programs of government and private organizations as vehicles for family planning information and services and shares the responsibility of implementing all facets of the population program with various participating agencies in the government and private sector.     

Pakistan: re-organization at the top

New measures for population program planning have been introduced in Pakistan. 3 wings were added in the Population Planning Council: administration, coordination, and planning; operation; and technical. New elements in the program include: 1) setting up of new directorates; 2) opening of more family welfare clinics, model clinics, and sterilization centers; and 3) expansion of training facilities for medical and paramedical personnel. 2 national training institutions have been established: the Population Training Centre at Lahore, and the National Institute of Advanced Training at Hyderabad. 16 centers have training courses for doctors performing sterilization. There has been a restructuring of the information, education, and communication aspects of the program. The commercial distribution of contraceptives has become an important element. There are efforts to relate the program to other development programs.     

Papua New Guinea launches its population policy

On October 15, 1976, at special ceremonies Papua-New Guinea announced the Population Research Programme and a national population policy. At the program Stephen Tago, Minister of Environment and Conservation, the agency in charge of the population policy, traced the history of abstinence and acceptance of abortion and infanticide which had traditionally limited population. With the breakdown of these traditional methods many families now have 10-15 children and the population is expected to double within 25 years. This is putting stress on the goal of universal education,economic opportunity, and agricultural resources. Data must be collected on the effects of population to help the government and the people make proper population decisions. Charles Lepani, Director of the Central Planning Office, emphasized the importance of statistics to population policy and development strategy. This office predicts that the current population of 2,750,000 will double in less than 25 years. Nearly 40,000 people reach working age every year. The labor force currently totals 1,250,000. A more gradual increase in population would make priorities of the research program were described by Governor of the Bank of Papua-New Guinea, Henry To Robert. The government needs to know more about the physical characteristics of population growth, especially about regional variations. The social and economic reasons for high fertility need to be examined as does the relationship between population and resources. Information also needs to be gathered on attitudes toward policy change.     

Values: their place in population education

In an attempt to resolve the crucial issues relating to dealing with the value dilemmas of students, population educators in the Philippines convened a series of conferences. The Philippine population education teachers, trainers, and administrators participating in the conferences agreed that a fusion of the affective and cognitive processes was necessary and that there should be more student involvement and self-made decisions on the part of students. An issue still unresolved is whether schools should inculcate values in the students or let them resolve or discover values by themselves; the strategies suggested range from open-ended or value processing to close-ended value teaching. Teachers and supervisors stressed that all strategies should be undertaken since they complement each other, but the choice and availability of materials to support and reinforce the strategy continues to be a problem for many participants. Preliminary studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a value clarification strategy support the contention that value clarification processes do make a difference in certain patterns of student behavior, attitudes, and knowledge. Research also shows that the value clarification strategy is ineffective with teachers who are highly authoritarian, closed-minded, and dogmatic. The Population Education Program has responded to recommendations of the conference participants and taken some definite action, such as the implementation of value clarification strategies as part of the teacher training program and development of a list of Filipino values to serve as guides in teaching value-laden population issues.     

Sex,counseling, and the young industrial worker

The Population Center Foundation (PCF) has begun promoting greater awareness of the implications of adolescent fertility among Filipino teenagers. PCF has developed an information and counseling program on adolescent fertility attuned to the youth's particular conditions and tastes. Almost all teenagers preferred to talk with their peers rather than with adults or professionals, especially on intimate topics. The export processing zone (EPZ) is 1 of the most popular government strategies for pursuing an export-led industrialization. The Bataan EPZ, the site for 1 implementation of PCF's program for young workers, is the country's prime industrial estate. The presence of dormitories in the Bataan zone has given greater opportunities for interaction among workers; closer relationships are built, and the degree of trust and intimacy required for honest discussions of sexual problems is established. The Bataan program aims to assist the EPZs, the regional and local offices of the Commission on Population, and the Ministry of Labor and Employment in meeting the family planning needs of the zones' teenage workers. An information-education-communication campaign has been launched to get support for the sexuality counseling services offered by various institutions in this program. Those who take part in the adolescent sexuality counseling training program are asked to share their experience during feedback sessions.     

The Population Program's Medium-Term Plan: a blueprint for welfare

The Population Program in the Philippines initially was preoccupied with the problem of fertility reduction. From 1981-85, the program will be carrying out a 5-year population plan which aims at the reduction of fertility as well as the broader goal of enhancing the well-being of the family and of society. Called the Medium Term Plan, this population plan began to evolve in January 1978 when President Marcos called for a comprehensive review of the population program in the context of the country's overall development plans. The Special Committee to Review the Philippine Population Program, worked from February to June 1978 and focused attention on the policy, program, and research components of the population program. They assessed the achievements of the program, analyzed its limitations, and recommended future policy and program thrusts. In performing its task, the committee observed the following guidelines: 1) the program must be evaluated by taking into account the overall development goals that are directly related to the population problem, 2) the program must be evaluated in its totality, 3) the concept of family planning must be redefined as family planning and welfare, 4) research must be recognized as a vital instrument for program formulation, and 5) the population program must be evaluated with an awareness of the role of financial and institutional support in its implementation. The committee's findings stressed the need to link family planning efforts with the rest of socioeconomic issues outlined in the government's 5-year development plan for 1978-82. The broad objective of the National Population Program is to reduce the population growth rate to levels that promote national welfare and individual well-being. Under the Medium Term Plan the population growth rate should be reduced from an estimated 2.3% to an estimated 2.0% in 1985. To achieve this objective, the program aims to raise the number and quality of protected couples, promote delayed marriage, promote internalization of the small family size norm, and study other development factors. 14 strategies and their objectives are outlined along with action steps.     

Family planning operations research in the Philippines

This essay introduces an issue of the Philippine Population Journal dedicated to the presentation of the results of operations research (OR) studies undertaken for the Philippine Family Planning (FP) Program as part of a program coordinated by the Population Council which seeks to improve FP services. The concept of OR was introduced to program managers and researchers at two workshops held in 1992. Five of the seven diagnostic proposals developed during these workshops were funded and are covered in this Journal. The results of earlier OR studies conducted under the sponsorship of the UN Population Fund are also included. The concept of OR was developed to provide managers with timely answers to their everyday problems through appropriate research. OR forces social scientists to overcome prejudices against this kind of applied research and forces program managers to learn to rely on research findings instead of on hunches. OR also forces both parties to work as a team. An important intent of this Journal is to encourage the dialogue which must precede the institutionalization of OR and to indicate to social scientists and program managers that OR has a personal relevance to their work. The research reported in this Journal will contribute to the building of theories through the many convergences in the conclusions reached about such issues as home visits, suboptimal clinic conditions, inadequate provision of FP information, and the role of outreach workers.     

Fertility and eugenics: Singapore's population policies

Singapore, after serving for two decades as a model for Third World birth control and economic development programs, is now abandoning its earlier population policies in favor of encouraging dramatic population growth. The initial eugenics-based program introduced in 1984 sought increased fertility for university-educated women and provided major subsidies for the voluntary sterilization of poor and uneducated parents. These much publicized and internationally discussed programs have now been abandoned in favor of new population programs seeking to encourage fertility in lower as well as better educated groups. A forty percent population increase is being set as a goal. To accomplish this the effective Singapore Family Planning and Population Board has been abolished and Housing Development Board policies are in the process of being reversed to encourage rather than discourage fertility.The research reported here was partially funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and by a grant from the Population Council's International Research Awards Program on the Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.     

Papua New Guinea: first population policy declared

In its 2nd year after achieving political independence, Papua New Guinea declared a general population policy in October 1976, and inaugurated a population research program to guide policy formulation. Population affairs of the country, which has a population of 2.75 million, have been vested with the Ministry of Environment and Conservation. The research program will be implemented in cooperation primarily with the Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research (IASER) and the University of Papua New Guinea, as well as the Central Planning Office, Department of Public Health, Bureau of Statistics, and Office of Information, among other agencies. The priorities for research will initially fall under 5 main concerns: 1) fertility and population growth, and the causes of local differentials; 2) socioeconomic influences on growth trends; 3) interrelation between population and land resources; 4) internal migration; and 5) individual attitudes regarding family planning practice. The research program is designed to become an integral part of national development planning. However, the Government has declared that both policy and research programs must concur with the needs and desires of the people, to pave the way for successful implementation of development plans.     

NFP promotion in the Philippines: all program components covered

At least 50 of the 105 agencies in the Philippines listed in the "Directory of Agencies with Population Activities" are actively participating in the promotion of natural family planning (NFP). Of these, 40 offer instruction on its use, 22 provide training to clinic personnel or field workers, 19 conduct information/education/communication (IEC) activities, and 6 undertake research. The Population Center Foundation's (PCF's) Information Support to Population Projects (ISP) has prepared a preliminary inventory of programs and projects on NFP, covering some of those that were done in recent years, are being implemented, or have been proposed. Some projects described in the inventory are reviewed. Recent research or research proposals are showhow related, all leading to how the method can be effectively promoted and how couples can be taught its proper use. Instruction on NFP appears in all training activities of Popcom's regional offices, particularly in their refresher courses. Program managers are being trained in managing and monitoring activities to promote the method. In 1980 outreach workers, doctors, nurses, and midwives were trained by Popcom to motivate couples to practice the method and to teach them how to use it correctly. That same year, Popcom's office in the Ilocos region introduced the rhythm dial calendar, a simplified version of the rhythm slide rule. The Ministry of Health National Family Planning Office incorporates natural family planning instruction in its training seminars for the Ministry's health personnel in the regions. As in training, all regional offices of Popcom promote NFP along with other methods that they make available to prospective acceptors. This is in keeping with the program's "cafeteria approach" to family planning. In 1982 Popcom began intensifying the provision of services in NFP, allocating around 4 million pesos to preparations for its effective promotion. In support of service delivery efforts are IEC activities such as the development, production, and distribution of brochures and other reading material on NFP, schoolroom instruction, and lectures. The intensification of IEC efforts in the private sector to promote the modern and scientific techniques of NFP is most clearly evident in a fairly recent seminar sponsored by the Communication Foundation for Asia. Program agencies with activities in natural family planning are listed.