Child rights to survival, growth &

development

ESARO

Communication Strategy for Implementing Community IMCI

Neil Ford

Regional Adviser, Programme Communication

Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office

RBM Communication Working Group

Geneva, Sept 4th and 5th, 2003

Child rights to survival, growth &

development

Communication Strategy for Implementing Community IMCI

•Communication from a human rights perspective activates community members to take control of their own development.

•Most current communication strategies deliver information through campaigns. In this approach, community members are passive recipients of messages.

•Three shifts are required to implement communication strategies from a human rights perspective:

The Principles:

Shift One: From messages to dialogue.

Shift Two: From problems to appreciation.

Shift Three: From expert solutions to community

solutions.

The Process:

Step One: Give a voice to the voiceless

Step Two: Facilitate community dialogue that leads to community action plans.

Step Three: Build channels of communication between communities & governments or agencies, so that community plans are supported with policies and service delivery programmes.

Multiple Entry points

Start with existing work in one sector (such asmalaria or nutrition) then expand to to other sectors,integrating sectors as the programme expands.

Applying Communication Principles &Process to c-IMCI

Applying Communication Principles &Process to c-IMCI

Multiple Communication Techniques:

Start with participatory processes that you know(such as PHAST) then integrate elements of otherparticipatory techniques such as PRA orAppreciative Inquiry.

Child Rights to survival, growth & development

Prevention & treatment of respiratory diseases

Prevention & treatment of Malaria

Pre-natal care and safe delivery of new borns

Prevention of HIV. Care & support for people infected & affected by AIDS

Improved Nutrition

Immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases

Psycho-social development

Treatment & Management of Diarrhoea

Train facilitators in participatory communication

Begin a community engagement. Determine an entry point and participatory technique

Identify vulnerable groups and give them a voice in the engagement

Create a positive vision for child development

Produce an action plan to realize the vision-resolve conflicts-integrate new tech. info. into the planProduce mass

media messages and materials to support the plan

Community management committee as part of overall mgt. structure

CB-MIS integrated into programme monitoring

Participatory evaluation as part of overall program evaluation

Community Engagement Techniques -"basket" of current methodologies

• Participatory Rural Appraisal / Participatory Learning and Action

• Community Dialogue• Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation

Techniques• Community-based management of

information systems

Communication at scale• identify all possible groups of facilitators• encourage “horizontal” sharing of the

communication strategy between communities.

• refine the engagement process so that it is effective as possible.

• identify common aspects of community action plans and support them with appropriate mass media campaigns.

Example: Communication for Malaria in Mozambique

• Focus on the use of participatory tools to encourage Community Capacity Development (CCD)

Zambézia Province A CCD strategy to facilitate community

Assessment, Analysis and Action

Service delivery ITNs in rural areas community-based distribution system for

the First Line Drug for malaria treatment

Community Capacity Development

• Establishment of representative community councils to provide responsibility, motivation, leadership, authority and to manage resources

• Use of picture based participatory tools to facilitate communication, decision-making and learning

Development

• Development of Mozambique specific tools and associated training package:

– communication– hygiene and sanitation– malaria– nutrition

Participatory Malaria Toolkit• Sad/happy child: rights violations, duty bearers

etc• Nurse Felicidade: health priorities • Malaria Child: signs/symptoms; risk groups• Pocket Chart: treatment-seeking behaviours -

duty bearers, capacity gaps, priority actions • Community Mapping: monitoring and planning

tool • Blocking the Routes: routes of malaria

transmission and how to block them

Supportive communication

• Social marketing communication including: – radio spots– malaria dramas– posters, wall painting etc, especially in

urban areas

Emergency / post-emergency

• Gaza: Malaria Participatory tools used in support of the distribution of ITNs to flood affected families, reaching > 250,000 people in 3 months

Emergency / post-emergency

• 100 NGO mobilisers trained in participatory methodologies

• Activists working in teams of 10 visit one community a day

• ITNs distributed at end of participatory session

• 200,000 ITNS distributed in 3 months• 250,000 people join in participatory sessions• Net retreatment rates >96%

Some measurable impacts: GazaI mpact of participatory approaches on individual behaviours f or malaria prevention

1 year

post distribu

tion

% of respondents still possessing the net 98

% on nets in good condition 94

% of respondents sleeping under the net every night

95

% of respondents saying children sleep under the net either alone or with both parents

89

Some measurable impacts: GazaImpact of participatory approaches on knowledge about malaria prevention

Baseline 1 year post

distribution

% of respondents citing mosquitoes as a means of transmission of malaria

30 91

% of respondents identifying children as an at risk group

- 87

% of respondents identifying pregnant women as an at risk group

0 58

% of respondents saying its possible to protect oneself against malaria using an I TN

1 93