CycleBeads on Paper: Helping Family Planning Programs Overcome Stock-Outs

Delivering and maintaining quality family planning services depends on the availability of commodities, which is a challenge for many programs, especially in rural settings. To address stockouts of CycleBeads®—the mnemonic device used for Standard Days Method® of family planning—the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) designed and tested a paper version of CycleBeads. Under the Passages Project, Action Familliale Rwandaise (AFR), implemented CycleBeads on Paper in family planning service delivery in three sites in Rwanda: Huye, Kigali, and Kabgayi.

An assessment of provider skills, via a competency checklist, showed that providers were as competent offering the method using the CycleBeads on Paper as providers who offer the method with the string of CycleBeads.