The Empathways tool is a three-round card deck designed for one-to-one use between young people and family planning service providers in provider training or other contexts. The deck comprises a series of discussion prompts intended to spark rapport and joint reflection between these two groups. The goals of this tool are to develop empathy among family planning providers for young clients and to use this empathy to catalyze more youth-centered family planning service delivery. Since the tool’s release in 2021, Empathways has been adapted for use with different audiences and for different health goals. Explore the impact and results of Empathways and download case studies to see how the cards have been used around the world.
Empathways
Original version developed by Breakthrough ACTION for use between youth and family planning providers (also available in French)
- Facilitator instructions, card box, and print specifications
- Cards: Deck 1: Open Up | Deck 2: Discover | Deck 3: Connect [PDF]
Community Empathways
Adapted by Breakthrough ACTION in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo for use between youth and community leaders who impact family planning norms
- Facilitator instructions (in French) [PDF]
- Cards: Decks 1, 2, and 3 (in French) [PDF]
- How-to video (in French)
Family Empathways
Adapted by Breakthrough ACTION in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo for use between youth and their parents/guardians to facilitate conversations and increase youth access to family planning and reproductive health information and services.
- Instructions (in French) [PDF]
- Cards: Digital | Ready-to-print (in French) [PDF]
Gen-N Empathways
Adapted by Jhpiego under the EpiC and RISE projects in Nigeria for use between youth and HIV and PrEP providers
- Training package [ZIP]
GET 4 Youth: Family Space Empathways
Adapted by Breakthrough ACTION as part of the Gender Equity Today for Youth (GET 4 Youth) Pilot Package in Indonesia. GET 4 Youth is a suite of five interventions designed to create a more gender-equitable environment for very young adolescents. Its Family Space intervention includes an adapted version of the Empathways card deck for use between adolescents and their parents or caregivers.
LGBTQIA+ Empathways
Adapted by the MOSAIC project, under its Catalyzing Access to New Prevention Products to Stop HIV study, to build empathy among pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) providers for their lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more (LGBTQIA+) and sexual and gender minority clients.
Nepal Empathways
Adapted and translated by Jhpiego under the USAID Adolescent Reproductive Health Activity in Nepal, these cards are included as part of the Adolescent Reproductive Health Mentorship Package and are used with young people during in-person health care provider mentorship sessions.
- Cards: Decks 1, 2, and 3 (in Nepali) [PDF]
