Costing the Standard Days Method: The cost of integrating the Standard Days Method (SDM) into family planning programs at scale and of providing the SDM in routine service delivery in Guatemala India and Rwanda.

The Standard Days Method (SDM) has been part of the family planning modern method mix for over a decade and countries are gradually incorporating SDM into national family planning norms policies and programs. Although knowing family planning costs is critical to a range of policy and financing decisions this study is the first to systematically examine SDM costs. Where countries have yet to introduce SDM donors and family planning program managers are interested in what it might cost to fully integrate SDM into their family planning services. Similarly in the context of limited funding it is important for planning and policy purposes to know the routine costs of providing SDM once a country has achieved scale up and how these compare to the costs of other user-dependent family planning methods. The study examined costs in three of the five focus countries where the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) and its partners have worked to integrate SDM into family planning programs. The national scaleup in Rwanda took 11 years. The effort in Guatemala which combined national level policy work with a focus on service provision in three of Guatemala’s 22 districts spanned a similar period. The six-year scale-up effort in India focused on the state of Jharkhand covering 11 of the state’s 24 districts. The study defines integration as comprising six categories of activities: coordination and planning for integration; research1 monitoring and evaluation; policy and advocacy; training; communication for awareness raising; and adapting systems. Costs of integration were calculated using information drawn from budgets work plans and actual expenditures made by IRH along with information on costs incurred by IRH partners involved in the integration process. Costs were examined over the period during which integration activities occurred 2003-2013 (11 years) in Guatemala 2007-2013 (6 years) in India/Jharkhand State and 2003-2013 (11 years) in Rwanda.