Successful parenting a public-private sector partnership saving lives in northern India

Summary: 

India loses 300,000 young lives each year to pneumonia and diarrhoea, diseases that are preventable. If practiced together, handwashing with soap (HWWS) on key occasions and complete immunization could significantly reduce under 5 mortality. Lifebuoy - Unilevers leading health soap brand and Gavi - the Vaccine Alliance have come together with the state government of Uttar Pradesh and local communities to develop a unique public-private partnership called Safal Shuruaat. Translated as Successful Beginning, implemented by GroupM and measured by Kantar. This 9-month integrated successful parenting platform mobilizes caregivers to practice key behaviours, driven by a compelling vision of their childs future success. The umbrella of successful parenting also encourages parents to adopt other key behaviors age appropriate nutrition, early childcare and development, and improved parenting skills. Through a range of interpersonal, community mobilization and technology driven efforts it harnesses existing and new communication tools and approaches, seamlessly integrating with existing government platforms and channels. Concurrent monitoring in the pilot phase indicates 5 to 16-fold increase in incidence and knowledge of HWWS at critical occasions. Age appropriate compliance of critical vaccines increased significantly by 14% (pentavalent), 27% (measles) and 55% (rotavirus). Increased exposure to the programme was associated with increased knowledge and practice of HWWS and immunization behaviours indicating the effectiveness of this behavioural insights driven partnership programme. Over the initial 3 years Safal Shuruaat aims to reach a minimum of 3.5 million beneficiaries across 14 districts with ambitions of a further scale up. Project Impact Film: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bwOOVYAfIWjhxjBgc3SloJqRo0xE7Jrl

Background/Objectives:

Every parent dreams of a better life for their child, a dream that can only be realized by ensuring a successful beginning. Formative research revealed that parents felt little sense of control over illness in their childs early years, often struggling to understand the link between hygiene, infection and disease. By setting an aspirational vision, Safal Shuruaat is driving healthy parenting behaviours individually and collectively by reframing immunization, HWWS and other key parenting behaviours as being key indicators of a parents and communities agency and success.

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

Driven by deep local insights, Safal Shuruaat is designed to empower the couple, the family and community, recognizing that it takes a village to raise a successful child. Parents of under 2 are taken on a 6 touch-point journey of village events, household visits and targeted sessions at the child care center and school, with key influencers (including front line health workers, government officials and media) actively engaged in support. Activities are designed to address common barriers and social norms at different levels of the socio-ecological system. The programme also breaks new ground in actively engaging fathers, and in employing a range of innovative approaches, including both high and low tech behavioural nudges and gamified content. Phase II, which incorporates lessons from pilot districts, is currently being rolled out to a total of 14 districts, with a population of 15 million, demonstrating the potential to take the programme to scale.

Results/Lessons Learned:

Rigorous research has been key. Use of both quantitative and qualitative concurrent monitoring has enabled real time feedback and course corrections to be integrated into the ongoing design and development of the programme. Adopting a social ecological model for the design of a multi-channel approach has made it not only possible to influence individual behaviours, but also to start tackling more deep-rooted social norms, such as evolving the fathers role in child care. Key to success is also the use of low tech behavioural nudges and gamified content that make the programme both engaging and aspirational, key approaches aided by the skills and expertise from the private sector. Early results are promising with age appropriate compliance of specific vaccines increasing between 14% and 55%, with 5 to 16-fold increase in incidence of key handwashing practices.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

By complimenting existing government messaging and communication channels and leveraging and multiplying the strengths of public and private sector partners, Safal Shuruaat is building a strong platform to engage caregivers on a wide range of health, hygiene, and parenting behaviours. This cross sectoral approach has the potential to increase impact, cost efficiencies and economies of scale, particularly if the mobile component reaches its full potential. A third phase will run in parallel looking at ways to scale the programme, including building components into government systems to scale nationwide, and harnessing the power of local CSOs to reach especially vulnerable populations.

Abstract submitted by:

Pallavi Dhall - Kantar
Surya Av - Kantar
Susan Mackay - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Pradakshana Kaul - Unilever
Smita Singh - GroupM 
Abhishek Singh - GroupM