January 9, 2014, Lomé, Togo: The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has launched Agir pour la Planification Familiale (AgirPF), a five-year regional family planning project that will be based in Lomé and implemented in five countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo.

To respond to the high unmet need for family planning in West Africa and recognizing the region’s growing urbanization, AgirPF aims to increase access to and use of quality family planning services in urban areas using hospitals and health centers as well as mobile outreach and community-based services. More specifically, AgirPF will: 1) expand access to family planning counseling and a range of contraceptive methods; 2) promote healthy family planning behaviors; and 3) increase awareness of the benefits of family planning.

“AgirPF will work closely with the governments of project countries to identify concrete activities for support that directly respond to priority needs identified in national plans,” said U.S. Ambassador to Togo Robert E. Whitehead.  “The project will work with local organizations to help them expand services that work with service providers to improve the quality and impact of their efforts, and with women and families to increase awareness of the benefits of family planning.”

USAID designed AgirPF to support the member countries of the Ouagadougou Partnership for Repositioning Family Planning in Francophone West Africa, who pledged to reach an additional one million women and couples with family planning methods by 2015.  AgirPF, implemented by  EngenderHealth together with Futures Institute and EXP Agency, will build upon successful USAID-funded activities piloted in Togo: the AWARE II and RESPOND projects, which focused on community-based delivery of a package of services that included family planning and maternal and child health services. These activities will now be expanded in Togo and the other four project countries.

The goal of USAID in West Africa is to promote social and economic well-being advanced by West Africans.  Spanning 21 countries, the USAID/West Africa regional office designs and implements programs with West African partners to strengthen systems of non-violent conflict management, support economic growth, and expand quality health services. The American people, through USAID, provide economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information please visit http://www.usaid.gov/west-africa-regional.