JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Engaging civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) in the development of global guidance can improve the relevance, acceptability and implementation of recommendations at the country level. Despite increasing recognition of its importance, involvement of CSOs and CBOs in guideline development remains inconsistently applied, insufficiently documented or limited to a small group of technical experts. Through the IBP network, the World Health Organization (WHO) has engaged with CSOs and CBOs working in family planning and sexual and reproductive health globally. This viewpoint describes the design and implementation of three IBP network-facilitated virtual consultations and how stakeholder inputs contributed to the strengthening of three WHO guidance documents: a step-by-step guide to South-South Learning Exchanges (SSLEs), Scaling up postpregnancy family planning and Social and behaviour change interventions for contraception and family planning. Between December 2022 and June 2024, members of the IBP network were invited to participate in three independent virtual consultations conducted via Zoom. All consultations followed a similar format, with a series of structured questions to guide the discussion. A total of 1,353 stakeholders registered across the three consultations, of whom 555 participated live, representing more than 100 countries. For the SSLE guide, participants emphasized improving practical applicability, clarifying roles and responsibilities, enhancing contextual relevance and inclusivity, and strengthening monitoring and sustainability approaches. For the SBC guidance, participants highlighted the importance of strengthening partnerships, improving SBC content, messaging, and communication strategies, capacity building for SBC implementation, ensuring sustainable financing, and stronger monitoring systems. For the postpregnancy family planning guide, recommendations focused on strengthening policy and governance frameworks, improving community engagement, expanding access to post-abortion FP, strengthening provider capacity and health information systems, engaging community and religious leaders, addressing misconceptions, increasing male involvement, and task sharing. These recommendations informed revisions to all three guides. As virtual platforms become more advanced, they should be leveraged to strengthen WHO’s community engagement efforts in guideline development processes. These virtual consultations enabled direct engagement between participants and WHO experts, while structured discussions generated focused and actionable feedback. Virtual platforms also provided a more inclusive and equitable mechanism for participation by reducing geographic, financial, and logistical barriers that often limit involvement in normative guidance processes.