Try this activity, and let me know how it goes for you.

I partnered with a client organization to engage staff and board of directors in understanding the Reproductive Justice framework, and its application to organizational programming and other areas respective areas.

We started with a RJ 101 session in December 2021, followed by a more advanced training for staff in January 2022.

During the January training, each program was presented, and we discussed, using the insights from the RJ 101 training, how each program currently embodies RJ values and principles OR how the program can apply these values and principles.

In comparison to the Reproductive Health and Rights models, Reproductive Justice is an organizing framework, prioritizing intersectionality and the leadership of communities of color and other marginalized identities to challenge and change structural inequities (Forward Together, 2005).

While the RJ framework is easy to understand and more relevant compared to the “pro choice” vs “pro life” debate, strategizing how to apply the framework outside of traditional community organizing contexts can be a challenge.

So, how can your programs prioritize the voices and leadership of the communities your organization supports? 

This activity is ideal for:

  • Anyone responsible for developing programs and services
  • Anyone responsible for leading and participating in program evaluation activities

Here’s what you need:

  • Set aside a full day (or several days) for strategizing, where you and your staff can work uninterrupted (as we’re still in a pandemic, determine how this will work for an in-person setting or a virtual setting) Make sure to schedule breaks
  • Whatever setup you use to capture your process (laptop, pen and paper, whiteboard, etc.) but make sure it’s kept in a place that you can refer back to

The steps:

Pre-planning: Before the strategy session, develop a process for displaying pertinent information on each program. The client organization mentioned above developed a slide deck, outlining each program’s purpose, desired outcomes, and monitoring/evaluation plan.

During the strategic session: The activity is divided in 3 sections: Reproductive Justice, Program Design, and Monitoring + Evaluation. It’s possible that you may need additional sessions to reflect on your monitoring / evaluation, program design, and RJ processes. While you can tackle this in one day, feel free to schedule multiple sessions.

How your staff prioritizes programs for discussion is at your discretion; however, I recommend prioritizing in a few ways:

  • Program’s life cycle (programs scheduled to start sooner vs later in the calendar year; programs schedule to end sooner vs later, etc)
  • Immediate budget needs or considerations (the programs that might be most impacted if more changes are needed for implementation)

Reproductive Justice:

Reproductive Justice is an organizing framework that centers community leadership, perspectives and voices. From program feedback to developing leadership opportunities for communities, how does each program embody RJ? Some programs will have more presence of RJ than others, but here are some discussion questions:

  • Which aspect(s) of this program have the strongest presence of Reproductive Justice?
    • How are the voices of program participants used to inform these processes?
      • Participant recruitment, community outreach 
      • Program implementation/facilitation 
      • Active collaboration opportunities for staff and communities
      • Opportunities for increased community leadership development
      • Monitoring and evaluation
      • Accountability to communities and other key stakeholders
      • Data dissemination
  • Are there any implications to consider for increased community involvement? 
    • Financial compensation for community members
    • Overall funding
    • Staff capacity to lead RJ processes long term 
    • Considerations for active collaboration between your organization and communities 

Program Design:

 Of course, I have to add in monitoring and evaluation. Generally, each program should have:  

  • Logic model (or any process that articulates the purpose of the program, what the program intends to do, why the program works, and reasons why) 
  • Plan for each activity identified in the logic model, including:
    • Participant recruitment and re/engagement, where needed 
    • Facilitation guide 
  • Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan 
  • Data dissemination plan 

For each program, reflect on the following:

  • What are the intended outcomes of this program?
  • Do current activities allow for the outcomes to be achieved? 
  • Can current data be used to inform how this program is reviewed and designed?
  • Are there any implications to consider for staff reviewing and revising this program?
    • Frequency of program design review 
    • Staff capacity to lead program design long term 
    • Considerations for next steps in re-designing this program 

Monitoring & Evaluation:

Each program should have a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan and a data dissemination plan. 

As programs have different monitoring and evaluation needs, how you move forward may look differently based on the program. For each program, reflect on the following:

  • Which program(s) does staff have the most control over regarding M&E processes?
    • As some programs have external evaluators that have internal evaluation requirements, how can this process better align staff expectations and external evaluation processes?
  • If there are M&E processes in place, do current evaluation activities allow for each aspect of the program to be appropriately evaluated?
  • For programs that are evaluated internally, do staff have capacity to implement these processes?
    • Software for quantitative processes and training for developing tools
    • Software for qualitative processes and training for developing tools 

Let’s process:

No program (and its processes) is perfect, and there’s a lot that goes into designing, implementing and evaluating a program. You may see that some, only one, or none of your programs has all of these elements.

If several programs have strong RJ, design, and M&E processes, how can they be even stronger? There’s always room for improvements.

If only one program has these strong processes, how can it serve as a model while you work towards improving the processes for your other programs?

If no program has strong RJ, design, and M&E processes, which program will you start improving first?

Use the questions above, and you’ll see that you’ll easily come up with other questions to ask of your Reproductive Justice, program design, and monitoring/evaluation processes.

Key takeaway

Program design, monitoring and evaluation go hand in hand. Reproductive Justice presents an added layer to how your organization engages with and hold itself accountable to communities.

Try this process out and let me know how it goes for you (or if you’d like assistance, let me know how we can work together).

Raise Your Voice: How do you apply the Reproductive Justice framework to your program design? Share below in the comments section.

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