Addressing Gender in the SHOPS Plus Nigeria Family Planning (FP) Training Program: Experiences from Implementation

Gender can affect how people (especially women and girls) access family planning services in Nigeria; however, providers are often unaware of their own gender biases and lack the skills to address this barrier. The SHOPS Plus program in Nigeria addressed gender as part of family planning training that aimed to improve provider capacity and quality. The program developed an interactive learning approach that focused on trainees identifying how their own bias can be a barrier to their client’s choice, inhibit communication during counseling, and negatively affect the quality of family planning services. The program has worked with the Federal Ministry of Health to incorporate the adult learning approaches and exercises into the national curriculum. This brief documents how trainers and providers have changed their behavior since their training.