Devcoms’ #FPFRIDAY at ICFP/NFPC Rwanda, Nigeria
Development Communications Network was a key player in two just concluded conferences on Family Planning.  The first was the International Conference on Family Planning (#ICFP2018) in Kigali Rwanda and the Nigeria Family Planning Conference in Abuja, Nigeria. The organization made poster presentations on the Family Planning Friday (#FPFRIDAY), an innovative, youth focused social media initiative targeting youth involvement in Family Planning. 
The Rwanda Prime Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente and the Vice President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, declared the conferences open respectively.    
Devcoms Network, presented an abstract titled "Family Planning Friday (#FPFRIDAY): Strategic Approaches in promoting Family Planning among youths and adolescents in Nigeria."  The presentation, by Fausiat Balogun, Program Officer (Communication) was based on an initiative to close the family planning information gap among adolescents and youths because of cultural and religion barriers.  Youths are now being engaged in promoting and creating demands for family planning services.  The presentation was part of programme implementation under the youth focused programme component of Devcoms work with the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI).
Devcoms and NURHI built capacity of youths on the knowledge necessary to lead advocacy efforts, accountability and provide information among themselves using social media platforms. This is premised on the fact that the Nigerian youth and adolescents, like their counterparts elsewhere are usually glued to their communication gadget as they are active on social media (Facebook to twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, 2go etcetera).  
Because of the wide reach of the micro-blogging sites, often called social media, a hub of social media influencers and bloggers were trained and charged with educating and promoting healthy behaviours among women and girls specifically on Family Planning. #FPFriday is a coordinated effort by Devcoms Network and other partners.  
The strategy brought immediate results. The first #FPFriday in February reached 69,357 Twitter users, and made an impression on 495,960 people. Four weeks later, they reached 689,582 accounts and made an impression on nearly 6.3 million people. Twenty million people have been reached since the program began.
Join the movement on social media with #FPFriday and let's talk about family planning and maternal health issues. 
Watch the ICFP 2018 recap video of the entire conference -- the movement doesn't end here!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/icfpvirtualconference/