Nigeria Integrated Social and Behavior Change Community Engagement Resources

"Part of what the project is doing is going to communities to discuss with men and women about the things they can do to ensure their families and communities stay healthy and thrive."



This package of materials is designed to be used as part of an integrated social and behaviour change (SBC) programme in Nigeria that addresses priority health behaviours such as: reproductive health; maternal, newborn, child health, and nutrition (MNCH+N); malaria; immunisation; and environmental and personal hygiene. Central to this programme are health dialogues, compound meetings, and house-to-house visits conducted by community volunteers, Ward Development Committee (WDC) members, religious and traditional leaders, and other community members. The project, implemented by Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria and the Nigerian government and local government areas (LGAs), has produced this package of resources to standardise messages around priority health behaviours during these dialogue sessions. When developing the resources, Breakthrough ACTION considered the health areas that were most pertinent, audience literacy levels, and geographic contexts.



While some of the resources are intended to be used to guide discussions within larger diverse groups of people or as overall reference, some are designed to focus on specific life stages so that community members leading activities address the right behaviours with the right audience at the right time (an audience segmentation guide is included at the end of each flipchart). These life stages are:

• Lifestage 1: Early pregnancy (first 6 months)
• Lifestage 2: Late pregnancy, birth, and the first few weeks after birth
• Lifestage 3: Families with infants and children under five years
• Lifestage 4: All couples of reproductive age (not currently pregnant)

 

The package includes the following materials:

 

• Community Health Information Booklet [PDF, 48 pages]: The booklet is designed to serve as a reference and guide to the key priority MNCH+N behaviours that will be discussed during community dialogues. It is meant to be used by community volunteers (CVs), WDC members, Women Empowerment Groups (WEGs), Social and Behaviour Change Advocacy Core Group members (SBC-ACG) and other community members/structures to inform their community activities and dialogue sessions.

The following two resources are designed for broader community dialogues:

 

• Community Events Dialogue Guide [PDF, 17 pages]: This dialogue guide serves as a tool for mobilisers (community volunteers, WEGs, etc.) to engage community members during community outreach events, town hall meetings, and market gatherings. It includes dialogue questions to spur discussions with the audience and possible response options; mobilisers can adapt the resource as required during a session.
• Community Events Priority Behaviour Picture Guide [PDF, 8 pages]: This large visual aid complements the above Dialogue Guide and is meant to facilitate discussions during community events.

The following flipcharts are designed to be used by community health volunteers to guide discussions with audiences who fall within one of the four life stages:

 

• Integrated Community Mobilization Flipchart (Lifestages 1-2) [PDF, 68 pages] - for pregnant women and their husbands during the first 6 months of pregnancy and during late pregnancy, birth, and the first few weeks after birth
• Integrated Community Mobilization Flipchart (Lifestages 3-4) [PDF, 58 pages] - for families with infants and children under five years and all couples of reproductive age (not currently pregnant)