Using digital platforms for continuing learning for family planning field workers in Indonesia

Summary:

Today there are more than 14,500 FP field workers (PKBs) working in nearly 82,000 villages throughout Indonesia. With only 100 FP trainers available in 40 training centers, improving the knowledge and skills of all these PKBs can be challenging. To address this pressing need, Indonesia's National Family Planning program (BKKBN) partnered with MyChoice Project to optimize the use of digital platforms for continuous learning. An application specifically designed for PKB and their community volunteers (Kaders) was developed, accompanied with an online class using the WhatsApp chat application. They are two models that are a quick and economical solution that successfully respond to PKBs' needs. The digital apps are self-paced, and can be used as a learning and outreach tool. There are two tiers skills building: PKBs who received the new skills, and they roll these out to the community volunteers below them. In the past two years, over 15,000 PKBs and Kaders have been using The Digital Platform for Outreach app in all 163 districts in 6 provinces of MyChoice. Adoption has also reached the remaining 28 provinces in Indonesia. Results from a BKKBN survey in 2018 shows that the app is very effective and effective for outreach (95,9%); very easy and easy to use (92,6%). To support the training and ongoing learning, a WhatsApp class was used. More than 3,000 PKBs have joined the online learning sessions each month discussing specific issues. The PKBs then shared the knowledge to their peers and Kaders.

Background/Objectives:

There are 14,500+ FP field workers (PKBs) working in nearly 82,000 villages throughout Indonesia. With only 100 FP trainers available in 40 training centers, improving the knowledge and skills of all of these PKBs can be challenging. To address this pressing need, Indonesia's National Family Planning program (BKKBN) partnered with MyChoice to optimize the use of digital platforms for continuous learning. A digital application specifically designed for PKB was developed, accompanied by an online class using the WhatsApp chat application represent two ways that are a quick and economical solution to successfully respond to the PKBs' needs.

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

The development of the digital platform for continuous learning began with a pre-loaded electronic tablet app that proved very powerful to boost knowledge of community outreach volunteers. This evolved into the Digital Outreach Application for PKB and their community volunteer Kaders. The app is adaptable to a wide range of digital devices. The digital apps are self-paced, and can be used both as learning and outreach tools. There are two tiers of skills building: PKB who received the new skills, and they roll these out to the community volunteer Kaders below them. To support the training and ongoing learning, a WhatsApp class was started. Each month the PKB can enroll in a class were a specific topic is discussed, materials provided, and follow up after the class. This is able to reach PKB that are covering more than 17,000 islands of Indonesia.

Results/Lessons Learned:

In the past two years, over 15,000 PKBs and their Kaders have been using The Digital Platform for Outreach app in 163 districts. Adoption has reached the additional 28 remaining provinces in Indonesia. A 2018 BKKBN survey of PKB showed that 39.4% rated the app very effective, 56.5% rated it to be effective, and only 4,1% said it was less effective for outreach. 24% of PKBs feel that the app is very easy to use and 68.1% feel it easy to use, and 7.4% found it difficult to use. A 2019 BKKBN survey also recorded that WhatsApp is the second most common media used by PKBs. More than 3,000 PKBs have joined the online learning session through Whatsapp class every month. The PKBs shared the knowledge to their peers and Kaders. All of the materials have been adopted by BKKBN for wider distribution in Indonesia.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

The PKB and the Volunteer Kader application is powerful as a learning and outreach tool and an easy way to reach more than 14,500 PKBs and 100,000+ volunteer Kaders. However it has its own challenges. In the next phase, BKKBN needs to provide an integrated system to teach and make the apps easily accessible. The WhatsApp class is easy to facilitate, quick and cost-efficient, but limited to maximum of 250 people per session. To reach 14,000 PKBs throughout Indonesia, will require more than just one channel. Currently BKKBN is testing a new way to reach larger numbers through Google Classrooms.

Abstract submitted by:

Arief Mochamad - Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Indonesia

Dinar Sari - Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Indonesia