Background report: the Learning Route in Rwanda – Leveraging the Scaling up Nutrition Civil Society Network: building regional platforms to promote learning on how to address malnutrition (SUN Civil Society Network/PROCASUR 2016)
This background report was produced in preparation for the 2016 Learning Route in Rwanda. The Learning Route programme’s main objectives are: to build stronger, aligned civil society alliances that work for improved nutrition at all levels of society. The report is primarily intended as a briefing for those participating in the learning exchange, though it will also be of value to those interested in civil society efforts to end malnutrition in Rwanda. This background report provides basic information on poverty and malnutrition in Rwanda and the process of scaling-up nutrition. It also features five case studies that exemplify the work done by civil society in the following thematic areas: • advocacy, social campaigning and mobilisation • multi-stakeholder coordination • communication for behavioural change • integrated approaches to fight malnutrition The report was developed following a participatory mapping process involving civil society organisations in Rwanda and a survey of 11 Anglophone Africa. This process identified the priority thematic areas and the best practice examples that are most likely to stimulate country-country learning. Each case study briefly describes the experience, main outcomes and lessons learned by the civil society organisation leading the initiative. The case studies were developed with the participation of the ...
Going vertical: citizen-led reform campaigns in the Philippines (Making All Voices Count research report 2016)
The Philippines has a long history of state–society engagement to introduce reforms in government and politics. Forces from civil society and social movements have interfaced with reform-oriented leaders in government on a range of social accountability initiatives – to make governance more responsive, to introduce policy reforms, and to make government more accountable. Several theoretical propositions on which strategic approaches work best for social accountability initiatives have been put forward – including the idea of vertically integrated civil society monitoring and advocacy. This multi-authored research report uses vertical integration as a framework for examining seven successful civil society social accountability initiatives in the Philippines, looking at what made them successful, and how the gains they realised can be deepened and sustained. Click here for full details and report ...
SBCC I-Kit to support faith-based organisation led breastfeeding interventions (The Health Communication Capacity Collaborative 2014)
The Supporting Breastfeeding Interventions for Faith-Based Organizations Implementation Kit (I-Kit) provides SBCC practitioners with straightforward guidance and interactive tools to assist in developing breastfeeding SBCC programs. While this I-Kit was designed with FBOs in mind, any type of organization seeking to improve breastfeeding practices can use it. Click here for full kit ...
Involving Persons Living with HIV Networks in National HIV Policy Dialogue: A Case Study of MANET+ in Malawi (AIDSFree 2016)
MANET+, the national coordinating body for community-based support groups in Malawi, was founded in 1997 by a group of PLHIV who recognized the need to organize their activities to achieve greater impact on national HIV policies. This case study analyzes the engagement of CSOs in PMTCT policy and planning and clarifies how to increase their involvement and impact. This document describes Malawi’s enabling environment for CSO engagement in PMTCT policy; advocacy, approaches that MANET+ uses to engage with decision makers; strategies for strengthening its policy and advocacy activities; and challenges to creating change. It concludes with recommendations on how MANET+ could build on current successes. These recommendations may also be useful for other CSOs looking to increase the effectiveness of their policy and planning activities. Click here for full case study ...
Effective Public Health Communication in an Interconnected World: Enhancing Resilience to Health Crises (report from the Rockefeller Convening of a meeting in October 2015)
The public health communication community has more tools and mechanisms at its disposal than ever before, but is also facing increasingly complex public health challenges ushered in by globalization, urbanization, conflict, and connective technologies. The community is connected in unprecedented ways, but despite this fact there remains a lack of consistent and coherent communication among responders, within health systems and across the public domain. In light of this persistent problem, KYNE and News Deeply, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, convened a meeting on Effective Public Health Communication in an Interconnected World: Enhancing Resilience to Health Crises, held at the Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy, in October 2015. At the convening, 18 experts in communication, public health, and emergency response came together to detail areas of alignment and gaps. This report seeks to distill those lessons learned and contribute to the research base on public health communication in times of crisis, by detailing key takeaways from the convening. News Deeply also conducted interviews with participants, as well as external reviews with community organizations and leaders, to inform the body of the report. In addition, it includes synthesized case studies from three participants across different regional contexts: the 2013–15 Ebola crisis in ...
Improving Global Governance through Engagement with Civil Society: The case of BRICS (Oxfam Briefing Note 2016)
This paper presents a set of recommendations to increase the effectiveness of global governance forums by incorporating the experience, views and expertise of civil society. These recommendations are based on a research study, commissioned by Oxfam GB in Russia, which documented and analysed the experience of the Civil BRICS Forum 2015 and the views of organizers and participants. The recommendations are presented together with an overview of the lessons learned. Click here for full note ...
Factors Impacting the Effectiveness of Community Health Worker Behavior Change: A Literature Review (Health Communication Capacity Collaborative 2015)
Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), which uses communication to positively influence the social dimensions of health and well-being, is an important strategy for improving health services at the provider level. As community health workers (CHWs) play an increasingly important role in providing health services, there is also an increasing focus on to how to use SBCC strategies to build CHWs’ capacity to offer quality services to the community members they serve. A key step in designing and implementing effective SBCC programs for CHWs is understanding the barriers and facilitators that effect CHWs in providing these services. The aim of this literature review is to examine the barriers and facilitators to CHW service provision in three areas: knowledge and competency barriers in which CHWs lack the skills and knowledge to provide services, structural and contextual barriers in which systemic and environmental factors influence CHWs’ ability to provide services, and motivational barriers in which social norms and attitudes that effect CHWs willingness to provide services. In all three areas, findings revealed that CHWs face significant barriers,ranging from lack of materials and high workloads to ingrained attitudes and insufficient training. The results and recommendations in this paper can be used to anticipate ...
Make Me a Change Agent: A Multisectoral SBC Resource for Community Workers and Field Staff (The FSN Network and CORE Group 2015)
This publication aims to to build the skills of community-level workers, such as community development agents, community health workers, and agriculture extension agents, so that they can be more effective behavior change promoters in their communities. The lessons are generic rather than sector specific and cover skills such as communication and storytelling with the aim of helping development workers become more effective as an agent of behavior change ...
Employing Evidence in Policy Advocacy to Mobilise Parliamentarians on Nutrition in Tanzania: Some Lessons from the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (IDS Case Study, 2015)
This case study shares experiences from a collaboration between Partnership for Action on Nutrition in Tanzania (PANITA) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS, UK), using HANCI evidence to support policy advocacy with the Tanzanian Parliamentary Group for Nutrition, Food Security and Child Rights (PG-NFSCR). The lessons are intended to help other civil society organisations think through the ways in which they can use and apply HANCI data in their own in-country advocacy work. Click here for full study ...