Abstract
The Society of Family Planning Research Fund (SFPRF) provides grants for research
on abortion and contraception. In 2017, SFPRF conducted a retrospective evaluation
of its investment in family planning research. Using a developmental evaluation approach, we created a framework for assessing research
impact in family planning and applied it to an analysis of our grantmaking between
2007 and 2017. Our framework consists of 30 indicators of research impact, which span
nine impact categories from building researchers’ capacity to influencing individuals,
communities, and systems. Through application of this framework to our grantmaking,
we learned that our grantmaking has helped build the research capacity of emerging
and established family planning scholars and advance the field of family planning
by supporting the creation of a robust scholarly evidence base. At the same time,
we identified less evidence of impact on policy and practice. The results of this
analysis directed SFPRF to move towards more focused funding opportunities, including
longer-term and larger investments, and to prioritize partnerships between researchers
and knowledge brokers.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 17, 2019
Accepted:
November 15,
2019
Received in revised form:
November 8,
2019
Received:
August 14,
2019
Footnotes
☆Disclosure of potential conflicts: Amanda Dennis, Ruth Manski, and Jenny O'Donnell are staff at the Society of Family Planning and Society of Family Planning Research Fund, serving as the Executive Director, Grantmaking and Learning Manager, and Director of Grantmaking and Evaluation, respectively.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
