The Higher Population Council and Share-Net Jordan launched the Communication Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Share-Net Jordan (Knowledge Platform for Sexual and Reproductive Health) for the years (2022-2024), in a ceremony held today, Wednesday, with the participation of relevant national bodies.

Secretary-General Assistant of the Higher Population Council, Ms Rania Al-Abbadi, stressed during the ceremony that the strategy aimed to facilitate the provision, dissemination and sharing of sexual and reproductive health knowledge for researchers, research bodies, decision-makers, policy-setters, the media, program developers and service providers in a manner that supports and directs the decision-making process related to sexual and reproductive health.

The core objectives of the strategy are to improve internal communication to achieve the vision and mission of Share-Net Jordan; provide knowledge on sexual and reproductive health to researchers, research bodies, decision-makers, policy-setters, media, program developers and service providers; disseminate and share knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and support the decision-making process related to sexual and reproductive health.

Al-Abbadi indicated that analysing the current situation of communication and evaluating the performance of communication in the field of sexual and reproductive health showed that the most important gaps in this field centred on the absence of a strategy and policies for communication in relation to sexual and reproductive health, with the exception of the Population Media Strategy for the years (2018-2022) which dealt mainly with reproductive health and the weakness of periodic, sustainable, specialized and modern media programs, with the lack of sufficient investment in terms of developing effective communication products and tools, the weakness and lack of platforms and means of communication in relation to sexual and reproductive health, the lack of trained cadres in communication and media in the field of sexual and reproductive health, and weak training programs that are adequate in communication relevant to sexual and reproductive health.

During the ceremony, Mr. Ghaleb Al-Azza, Technical Director and Principal Researcher at Higher Population Council gave a presentation on the Share-Net Jordan project, while Director of the Media and Communication Unit at HPC, Ms Etaf Al-Hadid, reviewed the most prominent contents of the strategy. Ms Al-Hadid indicated that the communication strategy will provide a conceptual umbrella that enables institutions and individuals to provide, disseminate and share specific knowledge on sexual and reproductive health in novice and innovative ways despite being different in style, purpose and tools. It will also provide tools for gaining advocacy through the strategic use of the media in order to support related initiatives and activities.

The strategic conceptual framework for communication in Share-Net Jordan, which was based on the conceptual framework of communication for the World Health Organization, was developed in a way that enables the use of tools and means of communication that provide information and knowledge that are comprehensible, accessible, relevant, reliable, evidence-based and best practices and in a timely manner when needed by the relevant authorities, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of the internal communication process in the Share-Net Jordan secretariat, and the external communication between each of the Share-Net Jordan secretariat and external parties, such as research and academic institutions, universities, policy makers, decision makers and setters, government agencies, civil society organizations, supporting bodies, donors, the private sector, various media and the local community .

The vision of the communication strategy stipulates ‘Comprehensive and effective availability of information, knowledge, and research results related to sexual and reproductive health in order to achieve fruitful communication between researchers, research bodies, decision-makers, policy-setters, program developers and service providers.’

The strategy mission also states ‘Developing communication tools to enhance and support Share-Net Jordan knowledge platform through internal and external means of communication and their development to achieve transparency and build an appropriate environment for the transfer, dissemination and sharing of knowledge and experiences and their dedication to support successful and effective decision-making and achieve communication between producers of information, knowledge and research and between decision-makers, policy-setters, media, program developers and service providers.’

The strategy included the values ​​and principles underlying the communication process, the communication plan, the roles of the stakeholders involved in following up on the implementation of the strategy, the internal communication matrix, the external communication matrix, and the detailed action plan that links communication objectives with relevant activities, tools and means; the strategy also included key performance indicators to measure communication effectiveness.