Coalition commits to improving data visibility

Speaking at the Family Planning Summit in London, Coalition Director John Skibiak committed the Coalition to supporting upstream supply chain improvements to ensure the product flow from procurement all the way down into the hands of women. Mr. Skibiak introduced the global family planning Visibility Analytics Network (VAN) -- a shared platform to capture and use supply chain data from multiple sources to provide clearer visibility for short- and long-term decision-making. 

The Coalition will host the VAN and manage its implementation. Built on the premise that “you cannot control what you cannot see”, the VAN will streamline access to in-country data and reduce parallel data flows, while also capturing data from manufacturers, procurers, and freight forwarders. This will enable the community to better forecast inventory needs and track progress against those forecasts. 

The Global VAN is not simply a technology fix.  It will build on a decade of experience by Coalition partners in assembling the people, processes, policies and tools to promote visibility and collaborative decision-making. 

The Global VAN effort is a testament to community collaboration. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID have committed seed money; USAID and UNFPA have committed essential human resource support, and other key community members, including manufacturers, are providing technical assistance and data analysis.  

For more information, please contact the Coalition’s Market Development Technical Officer Julia White at jwhite@rhsupplies.org.