In-reaches and On-the-Job Training – A Win-Win for Both Clients and Service Providers in Pakistan

by | Jan 13, 2023

The group of related young women after the successful removal and insertion of new implants.

In Pakistan – especially in urban areas – adolescents and youth often opt for short-term family planning methods, such as condoms. However, during a recent family planning in-reach camp in Karachi, Pakistan, The Challenge Initiative (TCI) discovered a group of related women ages 18 to 24 years committed to longer-term methods wanting to renew their contraceptive implants.

The group of seven young women came to the in-reach camp held at a health facility in Korangi District to renew their Jadelle implants. Jadelle is long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) implanted in a woman’s arm that can prevent pregnancies for up to five years.

The women with an average of two children each – knew they were due for new implants, which they originally received at the same facility.

However, the staff member who inserted their implants five years ago had been transferred and none of the new staff had been trained to remove implants. After being referred to another facility that also had no trained staff, the women returned to the Korangi No. 2.5 facility, where the staff had just received training on implant removal and insertion from TCI Pakistan’s Manager of Quality Assurance. On-the-job training is a TCI high-impact intervention, which was being conducted in coordination with the family planning in-reach, another TCI intervention.

The women were jubilant about the timely removal and insertion of their new implants, and strongly advocated for family planning methods. One said:

  I know how important birth spacing is for me. My whole family supports contraceptives and I actively advocate it in my community.”

The Manager of Quality Assurance (left) teaching the staff how to insert implants.

Similarly, all the women encouraged more women to opt for modern contraception, especially long-term methods, as they feel more empowered not only for themselves but also for their family’s well-being.

The service providers were also very thankful for the training they received, noting:

  Refreshers are essential for our learning. We thank the TCI team for uplifting us and strengthening our skills.”