Training Faith Leaders on Promoting Childhood Immunisation

"Faith actors can play an important role in promoting immunisation, and this can significantly contribute to the health and well-being of communities."

This guide is designed to enable faith actors to be involved in the design, planning, and rollout of immunisation programmes as part of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)'s Faith and Positive Change for Children (FPCC) initiative. The FPCC highlights that development and faith partners hold complementary skills and that cooperation should engage the mind and heart to achieve social and behavioural change. Guided by the principles of compassion, stewardship, and community, faith communities frequently acknowledge that every child is a precious gift deserving of protection from preventable diseases. Drawing upon the teachings of the diverse faith traditions, faith actors can bridge the gap between spiritual beliefs and scientific knowledge.

A culmination of efforts by UNICEF, Religions for Peace, and the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, the guide provides non-medical/non-clinical guidance to faith leaders and Mind-Heart Dialogue (MHD) facilitators in order to equip them with the knowledge and information necessary to promote children's immunisation and encourage responsible decision-making among parents and guardians. Developed by the FPCC initiative, MHD is a reflective and experiential learning process exploring faith convictions, lived experiences, and knowledge to influence positive social and behaviour change, specifically aimed at enhancing immunisation uptake.

The guide's six chapters are designed to equip faith leaders and MHD facilitators with the necessary understanding to address common concerns, dispel myths, and promote informed decision-making regarding the immunisation of children. The chapters provide tools through which readers can analyse the social, cultural, and faith context, drawing insights and reflections from faith teachings and values to help in promoting positive behaviours and practices that promote the uptake of immunisation for children. The overarching idea is that the "approach of building trust, creating open dialogue, showing empathy and listening compassionately helps to create safe spaces for community members to be heard, supported and actively engaged through positive health promotion messages, to safeguard their own health and safety along with that of the wider community."

Specifically, the guide includes:
 

• Chapter 1: A background and introduction to the immunisation guide
• Chapter 2: Understanding immunisation
• Chapter 3: Faith and immunisation
• Chapter 4: Communication, outreach, and advocacy strategies
• Chapter 5: Promoting immunisation in the faith community using MHD
• Chapter 6: Monitoring and evaluating change

Annexes follow the main body of the document and include:
I. Acknowledgements
II. Vaccine information sheets: common vaccine-preventable diseases
III. Bibliography