Leveraging the GMM to identify opportunities for cross-collaboration

by Sarah Webb, Senior Technical Officer

The Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition’s (RHSC’s) General Membership Meeting (GMM) took place 16–20 October 2023 in Accra, Ghana. From Monday to Wednesday, the agenda was filled with dedicated meetings for RHSC’s Implementing Mechanisms (IM)s, giving members the opportunity to come together to refine priorities and reinvigorate a shared vision.

Each IM Meeting boasted an exciting agenda with carefully curated presentations, discussions, strategy sessions, and reflections gleaned over the past four years. Perhaps one of the most anticipated aspects of the GMM is the opportunity to bring together groups that don’t typically have the chance to connect with one another — to forge relationships that may not have otherwise happened. At the GMM, many Members join IM Meetings that they don’t regularly attend virtually, capitalizing on this in-person time together. And, as a result, new cross-IM collaborations emerge.

Highlighted cross-IM collaborative efforts from our time in Accra include:

• A sub-group comprised of AAWG and Maternal Health Caucus Members to drive forward supplies-related advocacy efforts to support the recently-launched PPH Roadmap.
• A new collaboration between the MDAWG and Menstrual Health Supplies Workstream to apply market-based approaches to promote access to quality menstrual health supplies.
• A partnership between the AAWG and Menstrual Health Supplies Workstream to leverage advocacy and accountability approaches to the workstream’s efforts to develop product standards, address market levers, and integrate menstrual health into broader SRH initiatives and supply chains.

This spirit of collaboration also extended beyond the IM Meetings. The Global Family Planning Visibility & Analytics Network (VAN) Open Session attracted members from across the Coalition, sparking new excitement and enthusiasm around the utility of the VAN and the CSM Report Co-Creation Session called upon members to reflect on the unique ways in which CSM data could be leveraged — or expanded –for different use cases across RHSC membership.

These opportunities for collaboration — cutting across RHSC’s membership and beyond individual IMs or scopes of work — are what makes the Coalition such a strong network. As we look beyond GMM, this spirit of collaboration will be what drives our work forward, and allows us to sustain the drumbeat, together.