Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning for Digital Adolescent Health Programmes: Innovations and Lessons Learned During COVID-19

Abstract summarising a Preformed Panel Session at the 2022 International SBCC Summit in Morocco (see Related Summaries below for presentations that formed part of this panel):

"The move to digital SBCC began pre-pandemic and is still relatively new territory for some donor and practitioner organisations. In combination with traditional media channels, platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube and Facebook have expanded the SBCC ecosystem. Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) for digital SBCC is equally a rapidly evolving field and presents a number of methodological, technological and ethical challenges. It also provides opportunities to gain a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of audiences and their evolving needs, their engagement with online/social media, and of behaviour change pathways and impact. This panel focuses on SBCC for reproductive health and draws on investments that are testing and evaluating digital media platforms as a promising intervention for improving adolescent reproductive health, especially driving modern contraceptive prevalence rates, demand and demand satisfaction. Using a talk show-style format, a facilitator from iMedia will host a semi-formal discussion amongst four panellists who represent programmes in East and West Africa, and in India. The host will introduce panellists and invite them to compare and contrast their MERL goals, approaches and tools, challenges and lessons learned, in an iterative and interactive way. The host will also invite the audience to contribute relevant ideas and experiences and to engage with panellists both during and after the discussion.This panel will open up a conversation about selecting strategies and tools for MERL of digital SBCC through sharing of experiences and lessons, with the aim of informing and progressing understanding amongst researchers, implementers and funders."