DKT provides safe, affordable, and effective family planning products and services. DKT provides 54% all modern family planning methods in Ethiopia, 33% in Ghana, 29% in the Philippines, 28% in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 20% in Indonesia (2015 data).
DKT places a major emphasis on educating and empowering groups with particular needs, such as poor women, youth and adolescents, and marginalized populations so that they can fully understand and capitalize on their available reproductive health options.
For example, one of the keys to DKT’s success in Indonesia has been the Andalan (meaning “reliable”) social franchising of midwives. In Indonesia, DKT is a strong supporter of midwives, who are the main providers of reproductive health services for the lower income and rural segments of Indonesian society. DKT Indonesia reaches an estimated 10,000 midwives monthly, providing materials, technical support and products. DKT has trained over 50,000 midwives in intrauterine device (IUD) and implant insertion and removal.
In Bihar, India, very poor men and women take advantage of the free sterilization procedures provided by DKT’s teams operating in remote government clinics. And DKT holds educational meetings in rural villages and operates informational kiosks at local religious and cultural festivals that provide free contraceptive samples.
In Ethiopia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DKT responds to local government and NGO requests to provide temporary supplies of free contraceptive commodities to meet shortages or respond to other priorities.
In the DRC, DKT trains doctors, nurses, and paraprofessionals to provide reproductive health counseling and services, including the insertion and removal of IUDs. DKT works closely with the head of the armed forces of the DRC’s reproductive health program to train providers in clinics to advise army personnel about contraceptives.
DKT designs and implements major behavior change communication campaigns that provide people with the information they need to make informed decisions about their reproductive health.
A 2013 research brief by the African Institute for Development Policy identified such educational campaigns as one of the five factors that contributed to the success of family planning in five countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, including Ethiopia.
