From data visibility to action: Utilizing the Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network (VAN) to Respond to Procurement Funding Gaps

Publication date: 2022

UNFPA SUPPLIES COUNTRIES UNFPA SUPPLIES AND VAN COUNTRIES NON-UNFPA SUPPLIES VAN COUNTRIES BACKGROUND ACTIVITY TESTED METHODS The Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network (VAN, or GFPVAN) captures data from multiple sources to improve supply chain data visibility. The VAN offers our community a platform to assess family planning (FP) supply needs, prioritize them, and act when supply imbalances loom. As a fully scaled control tower, the VAN has 99 member organizations, including 35 low- and middle-income country governments, and more than 330 active users (as of September 2022). In 2021, the United Kingdom (UK) announced a drastic reduction of its foreign-aid budget and rescinded funds already committed for the 2021–2022 fiscal year. These funding cuts impacted several organizations, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership. Using data in the VAN and working through the VAN’s global coordination group (the VAN Consensus Planning Group), VAN Analysts were able to assess the potential impact of these cuts on FP procurement funding. This procurement funding gap analysis served as a powerful advocacy tool to mobilize additional funding resources. The advocacy approach was two-pronged: The VAN Control Tower Planning Manager and VAN Analysts completed the analysis in August 2021. The objective was to estimate the FP procurement funding gaps for the remainder of calendar year 2021 for the 48 countries supported by the UNFPA Supplies Partnership with FP product procurement. As not all 48 countries were VAN members that reported data regularly to the platform, the VAN needed to use different methodologies to estimate the procurement funding gaps. In addition, the VAN team decided to use a tailored methodology to estimate the gaps for one product due to manufacturer supply constraints for the period of the analysis. Thirty-three of the countries were in scope for VAN membership. The VAN team utilized a methodology leveraging the inventory, consumption, and supply plan data reported by the country to the VAN. The results represented the funding needed to maintain each program’s minimum and maximum stock levels through March 2022. For the one product with constrained supply, the analysis covered requirements through December 2022 due to longer lead times, and the VAN Analysts used a predefined minimum and maximum stock level across all countries. The remaining 15 countries were covered by an internal analysis conducted by UNFPA, and the results were added into the VAN’s procurement funding gap figures.  www.rhsupplies.org/gfpvan FROM DATA VISIBILITY TO ACTION Utilizing the Global Family Planning Visibility and Analytics Network (VAN) to Respond to Procurement Funding Gaps Develop detailed country-by-country procurement funding gap estimates for the VAN’s Consensus Planning Group (VAN CPG) members and strategic partners. This audience included, but was not limited to, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNFPA, and the Global Financing Facility (GFF). 1 Provide aggregate procurement funding gap figures and summary statistics to a broader audience to bolster ongoing advocacy around the impact of the UK government funding cuts. 2    http:// www.rhsupplies.org/gfpvan KEY FINDINGS* LESSONS LEARNED Today, the family planning community continues to face the dual burden of reduced donor funding and competing resource demands for COVID-19. Key results from the VAN’s most recent procurement funding gap analysis for 2022 show a continued significant gap of about $100 million across 32 countries. The VAN’s work to identify and quantify the perennial procurement funding gaps continues to be as important as ever to offer the FP community the insights needed to respond tactically. In 2022, the VAN committed to: ɑ Adopting a replicable approach to more easily track trends over time. ɑ Increase access to and use of the results across VAN users. In August 2022, the VAN launched a “self-service” report to allow country, regional, and global users to access on-demand, country-specific dashboards that outline committed funding per product and by funding source. This dashboard allows users to easily pinpoint unfunded gaps and use the visuals and data to advocate with key stakeholders. These reports have already been integrated into regional domestic resource mobilization conversations in West Africa and are expected to be a key advocacy data source across all countries. 2021 FP PROCUREMENT FUNDING GAP 48 COUNTRIES (USD), AUGUST 2021 0 $20M $40M $60M $80M $100M $44.8M $47M REMAINING FUNDING GAP HIGH ESTIMATE OF GAP ATTRIBUTABLE TO UK CUTS COUNTRIES WITH/WITHOUT FP PROCUREMENT FUNDING GAP (COUNT), AUGUST 2021 COUNTRIES WITH NO FUNDING GAP COUNTRIES WITH A FUNDING GAP 13 COUNTRIES 35 COUNTRIES FP PROCUREMENT FUNDING GAP: 6 COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST GAPS, AUGUST 2021 COUNTRY 1 COUNTRY 4 COUNTRY 2 COUNTRY 5 COUNTRY 3 COUNTRY 6 $19.1M $15.5M $15.3M$8.5M $5.4M $5.3M $22.6M ALL REMAINING COUNTRIES 2021 FP FUNDING GAP 48 COUNTRIES: IMPACT OF ADDITIONAL RESOURCE MOBILIZATION COUNTRIES WITH/WITHOUT FP PROCUREMENT FUNDING GAP (COUNT) AFTER RESOURCE MOBILIZATION 0 $20M $40M $60M $80M $100M AUG 2021� OCT 2021 $91.8M $56.3M $35.5M REDUCTION COUNTRIES WITH NO FUNDING GAP (AUG 2021) ADDITIONAL COUNTRIES WITH NO FUNDING GAP (OCT 2021) COUNTRIES WITH A FUNDING GAP (OCT 2021) 13 COUNTRIES 10 COUNTRIES 25 COUNTRIES The VAN team provided country-by-country results to the VAN CPG members and strategic partners. The findings helped to bolster internal discussions at USAID that ultimately led USAID to allocate an additional $17.5 million to 10 countries. In addition, UNFPA mobilized $8.8 million in additional resources, including $3.8 million worth of products from Bayer. The analysis helped to inform UNFPA’s allocation of these resources to target the countries and/or products at the highest risk of stock out. In October 2021, the VAN team updated the analysis to take into account these new resources and other changes in the FP funding environment. In addition to the results shown in the graphs, the number of countries with gaps representing ~50% of total requirements was reduced. Funding requirements were heavily concentrated in a small group of high-volume countries. Only six countries (17%) made up 75% of the aggregate funding gap. Within these six countries, three countries (9%) accounted for 50% of the aggregate funding gap. The analysis also found that there were two lower-volume countries where ~50% of their estimated funding requirements were unmet. These supply gaps put them at very high risk of widespread supply disruptions. The aggregate results showed an FP procurement funding gap of approximately $91.8 million for the 48 UNFPA Supplies Partnership countries in 2021. Approximately 50% of this gap could have been met if UNFPA had its previously expected funding in 2021. The remaining 50% of the gap reflects the perennial funding gap that would have existed regardless of the UK funding cut. $91.8M FUNDING GAP $26.3M ADDITIONAL FUNDING MOBILIZED 6 COUNTRIES MADE UP 75% OF FUNDING GAP For more information, please visit our website or e-mail us: www.rhsupplies.org/gfpvan | GlobalFPVAN@rhsupplies.org For detailed procurement funding gap questions, please contact the VAN Control Tower Planning Manager, Maggie Murphy, at maggie_murphy@jsi.com *Some 2021 results were originally published online and are included here with permission from RHSC. Keith, B., Pandian, H., Murphy, M., and White, J. (December 10, 2021). How greater data visibility helped the reproductive health community confront the challenges of reduced funding for contraceptive supplies. Medium. https://bit.ly/3EowEGd http://www.rhsupplies.org/gfpvan mailto:GlobalFPVAN%40rhsupplies.org?subject=

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