Communication for Behavior Change. CLICS considered its BCC strategy crucial to achieving its objectives of creating awareness of preventive health practices to promote safe motherhood and child health behaviors and utilization of services. It was critical for effective community mobilization to improve access, availability, and equity of health services. A well articulated BCC strategy has been developed in the project, based on Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change (IMCFSC) that involves community dialogue and collective action to engineer a social change in the community through ownership of information and decision making for action at the community level. There has been a significant impact of BCC on the critical behaviors in the households in the project villages. The most important visible change is in the environment of villages. There was an increased commitment and enthusiasm among the community members with a positive attitude towards child survival and safe motherhood issues and project activities. More importantly, the CBOs and VCCs have consistently sustained active interest in the program. There was a significant change in the key indicators in the Endline Survey (ES) conducted in June- July 2008 (Table 4, pg 17). A few examples of improved behaviors include: breastfeeding of newborns within the first hour after delivery, fully immunized children, institutional deliveries, hand washing practices, and birth intervals. The process of BCC strategy development and implementation was completed in-house in four steps:
1. Conducting formative research and undertaking a dialogue with the community to identify facilitating factors and barriers to child survival and effective channels for communication of messages;
2. Designing and producing an integrated package of communication material and activities to facilitate change;
3. Developing skills of the program staff and partners; and
4. Using multiple channels of communications to disseminate the behavior change messages in the community. A doer and non-doer survey was also undertaken to identify key behaviors and factors that influence them. decisions, responses, and indicators has been developed. The program staff has identified the target groups, the right behavior to promote, key factors to be addressed, channel or media for communication, activities to promote such behaviors, and indictors to measure change. To date CLICS has addressed 15 behaviors (outlined in Annex 5). For each behavior, messages have been develope...
Communication for Behavior Change. During preparation of the DIP, CSP staff took the first steps in building a BEHAVE framework. During a two-day workshop participants helped identify Priority Behaviors, Motivators, Barriers and Channels for communication. Due to time limitations at that point, the Doer/Non-doer exercise was not completed. After project start-up activities were established, the MTI HQ CS Advisor visited the project to collaborate with the team in defining a Social and Behavioral Change Communication plan, refining the BEHAVE framework and completing the Doer/Non-doer exercise. This further refined plans and a revised BCC Plan was developed. A follow up workshop was held with representatives of the MOHSW, the GCM County Health Team, the national Breastfeeding Advisory Group (BAG) and CHAL to review the revised plan (along with C-IMCI materials, below). The MTI HQ Capacity Building Advisor visited Liberia to conduct a workshop to develop C-IMCI curricula that also would include adult training methodologies. The HQ CS Advisor assisted the team to develop flip charts to complement the C-IMCI curriculum. Examples of materials used for C-IMCI were gathered from the MOHSW, BAG, CHAL, Africare and the Ghana MOH and discussed and adapted. These were then field-tested by project staff with input, revision and review by MTI HQ Capacity Building Advisor and CS advisor. MTI’s CSP uses the following Channels of Communication within its BCC strategy: Small laminated cards for referral were extracted from the pictures developed for this flipchart and provided to HHPs in June 2008, with training in their use. All materials appear in-line with recognized key messages for C-IMCI, and are appropriate for use in low literacy areas. contributes to message dissemination. Mothers need support from their husbands, other family members and friends to adopt improved prevention and care seeking practices. It is expected that social network support has contributed to some of the positive results found in the midterm LQAS, such as a doubling in the percentage of mothers now providing immediate and exclusive breastfeeding within one hour after childbirth. Previous support and training provided to Traditional Birth Attendants by MTI through a separate Primary Health Care project during the post-conflict relief period has also contributed to social network support for recommended behaviors. Midterm qualitative evaluation found a notably high degree of accuracy and consistency in the C-IMCI messages which H...
Communication for Behavior Change. Communication for behavior change is at the pillar of the six project interventions that have been carried out under the Strength Project in Nacala-a-Velha and Memba Districts. Hence, communication objectives were closely linked to the program interventions. Some of the BCC- related specific objectives under the project interventions include: • Immunization: Mothers/care takers will get their children fully immunized before their 12 month birthday; • Malaria Control: Mothers/care takers with children < 24 months old with fever in previous two weeks will seek care within 48 hours of noticing symptoms; • Maternal and Newborn Care: 85% of women have at least two antenatal visits with trained health personnel during their last pregnancy; and
Communication for Behavior Change. One of the major activities of the project was awareness raising on child health issues. This was intended to provide mothers and caretakers of children pertinent information on the six top killer diseases of under fives. It was expected that this increased awareness would result in a positive change in attitudes and practices in the individuals and subsequently in the communities in favor of behaviors that promote child and maternal health and enhance their survival. Building on existing IEC materials of the MOH and the 16 key household/community practices that promote child health and survival developed by WHO/UNICEF, the project, the MOH and AAPPEC developed a set of IEC materials in the six domains of the project (flyers, posters, audio messages) and used them to facilitate behavior change communication between service providers and the caretakers of children. The project trained frontline health staff, CBO and health committee members, TBAs, the health promoters and project field staff on how to use these materials. The audio messages were broadcast by two rural radio stations in the project zone. The methods used to disseminate the messages included group health education talks, interpersonal communication, sketches, songs, and radio broadcasts. The FGD and KPC results demonstrate that there has been a tremendous increase in the knowledge level on child health issues among caretakers, and a significant change in behavior. Some behavior change objectives were attained while others were not. The overall trend was in favor of positive behavior change. However, there is still much to be done to sustain the trend.
Communication for Behavior Change. The BCC approach employed by Healthy Babies is quite strong. All messages and materials have been very carefully developed by the project staff and validated with the target population. Illustrations created by a local illustrator, depicting people and situations that people identify with. As a result, the project has produced BCC materials and messages that truly resonate with the target audience and, most importantly, are completely understandable. However, only a minority of the planned materials have been published and distributed, and the radio spots are also still under development. The materials that are in use (birth plan poster, laminated picture cards on various topics) have been very well-received by health personnel, CHWs, and beneficiary mothers, and quite effective in conveying the behavior change messages. They report that the designs and colors are very understandable and draw attention. In the case of the laminated picture cards, the CHWs and health staff find them very effective in the community because they do not intimidate the audience with text. These also work well with low literacy populations, and native groups who do not speak Spanish. The supply of sufficient picture cards to all CHWs is essential to their work in their communities. In general, all participants in the project (both trainers and trainees) would like to have more BCC materials to use as education tools and to distribute to the community: their request is a compliment to the project’s materials, but these need to be made available for more effective interventions. For the BCC materials still under development, it will be important to ensure that the company making the materials fully takes into account the suggestions given during the validation tests for the illustrations and messages, as has been done thus far with other materials.
Communication for Behavior Change
