Communication in 13 High Risk Districts of Afghanistan

TAG Meeting 24 - 25 March 2011

Islamabad - Pakistan

Presentation Outline

• General and high risk focus

• Communication capacity and structure

• Identifying challenges based on available data

• Polio communication key interventions

• Way forward

Polio Communication Strategy 2010 -11

General 13+ High Risk Districts

• Advocacy

• Mass media

• IEC

• Visibility events

• Communication plans

• Intensified national package

• Sub-cluster level community

mobilization

• Community based comm.

network

• District specific communication

plans

National Level

Structure

• National Standing Committee (NSC): Review

communication interventions;

• National Polio Communication consultant supporting

National EPI (NEPI); and,

• Communication Working Group to be constituted

(MoPH + WHO + UNICEF+ others).

Advocacy

• Commitment at every level towards PEI – beginning with

HE the President, Advisors, Ministers and Governors

Mass Media

• Develop and produce radio and television PSAs; and,

• National level broadcasts.

IEC Materials

• Design, produce and distribute posters and banners

Geographic Focus and Priority:

13 High Risk Districts - Southern Region

Total Southern Region population6.956 M – 17% of the country

High Risk Districts: 13 – 54% of the total population of the

Region

Total clusters - 385

Communication clusters – 89

(23% of the total above)

Polio Communication Network

Community Mobilizers in High Risk Clusters

Cluster Communication Focal Points

District Communication Focal

Points

PPCO

UNICEF Polio

Communication Team

UNICEF RPCOREMT

MOPH-WHO-UNICEF

PEMT

MOPH-WHO-UNICEF

NSC

MOPH-UNICEF-WHO-

USAID-NGOs

Sub-optimal

communication

capacity

Strengthening

of data driven

planning

Weak

supervision,

reporting and

monitoring

Awareness and Demand Generation

On-going Approaches:

• Issue/area specific communication planning

• Utilizing available structures

• District/village shuras meetings

• Community meetings

• Interventions by community mobilizers

• Mosque announcements

• Message dissemination from mosques

• Engaging school teachers / students

• Partner mapping

Awareness and Demand Generation

• Campaign messages focused on awareness

• Data collection started in March.Awareness

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Teacher Mullah Community elders Radio

Percent of people informed through different sources of information in the 13 HRDs (PCA data 2010)

Shows trends - Radio as main

source of information about polio

SIA

Awareness and Demand Generation

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

Total Helmand Kandahar

People who have heard about polio

Source: KAP-2 (end 2009)

Awareness and Demand Generation

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

February March May June October November December

Children missed (new born, sick, and sleeping) in13 High Risk Districts (PCA data 2010)

Use of data

Awareness and Demand Generation

District issues differ from one to another

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Children missed (new born, sick, sleeping and team not visiting) in 13 High Risk Districts (PCA data 2010)

New born,sick,sleep

Team did not visit

Need for evidence based

district specific planning

focusing on high risk clusters

Engaging Media

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Radio TV Banner poster

Sources of information for polio:Comparison of baseline (2007)

and KAP - 2 (2009)

Baseline - 2007

KAP-2009

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Teacher Mullah Community elders

Radio

% People informed through different sources of information

13 HRDs (PCA data 2010)

• Variety of radio channels available

• Involvement of radio and TV increased

• Number insertions almost doubled

• Monitoring of radio broadcasts

Posters/banners

• In Southern Region, locally produced posters and banners were

increased in 2010

• In March NID, number of posters increased from 10,000 to 80,000

Programme Visibility / Awareness

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

KAP – 1 KAP – 2

People aware through posters/banners KAP (2007) and KAP (2009)

Programme Visibility / Awareness

- Banners

- Billboards

- Parades

- Sport events

Community Mobilization

0

5

10

15

20

25

January 2008 December 2008 December 2009 December 2010

Deployment of District Communication Focal Points (DCFPs) in 13 High Risk Districts

Proportionate increase of Community Mobilizers.

Expansion needed to other clusters?

Moving out from existing and going in to other clusters

Interventions in Eastern Region (ER)

Multiple communication approaches

• 6-15 channels of national and local electronic

media remained engaged.

• Up to 15 insertions per day.

• Over 7,500 school students involved

• 50 billboards installed at prominent places

• Through community involvement, (in 3 villages of

Lalpura district) 141 children, missed during 2010

received OPV for the 1st time in March round.

Community mobilizers trained versus

people informed (ER)

Community mobilizers (CMs)

trained during SIAs (2010)

People informed by CMs

(PCA data 2010)

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

Mullah Imams Teachers

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

MullahImam

TeacherTeachers

Reasons for Missed Children

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Child was not present Team didn't visit the house New borne,sick,sleep Refuse

Eastern RegionJan/Feb 2011 (PCA data)

Way Forward

Proposed Approaches for 2011

• Quality: Focus is sub cluster level - Identify high risk clusters within 13 high risk districts and intensify support and activities

• Capacity:

• Expand communication network in clusters of the 13 high risk districts

• Implement data driven communication planning in all high risk areas

• Strengthen monitoring and evaluation

• Accessibility: Develop specific communication plans to support SIAD strategy

• Media engagement

• Partnerships

Capacity Building and Support

Community Mobilizers

Cluster CFP

District CFP

PPCO

UNICEF Polio

Communication Team

UNICEF RPCO

All CM activities

Work with all CCFPs

10% activities

Work with all DCFPs

10% activities

Work with all PPCOs

5% activitiesAdditional support from

Govt/WHO

New Partnerships and Coordination

• Focus on institutional partnerships for wider dissemination of messages• Ministry of Education

• Ministry of Religious Affairs,

• Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Live Stock

• Existing programmes and partners

operating in the area – exploring other

avenues:

• ARCS

• WFP

• NGOs

• Media networks• Increase use of radio and television

•Training of journalists / Stories on

PEI/EPI

• Media monitoring

Communication Approaches

• Messages emphasize demand creation • Not only dates but every child

needs to be vaccinated every time.

• Strengthening evidence based

communication planning• New and easy template, with special focus on

sub-cluster level activities – detail like date, place.

1st did for March NID.

• Inaccessible areas -• Through community elders (ER – 3villages, 141

children accessed in March)

• Intensification of cross-border

communication activities

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Post campaign communication reviews - PCN

• Quarterly review with regional and provincial polio

teams (Government + WHO + UNICEF)

• Data collection on key indicators and analysis

• Revised PCA data collection tools – Level of

awareness added from March NID

• Monthly reports of PPCOs

• International communication review – 3rd Quarter

• KAP at the end of year

Guidance needed from TAG

• Is there a need for expanding communication

network in southern region?

• Is there a need for a specific SIAD

communication plan?

• How to better access and analyze cluster-level

communication data regularly to guide planning

and activities?

• Endorse plans for conducting communication

reviews and KAP in 2011?

Thanks