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Counting on communication : the Uganda Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Project

VERZOSA, Cecilia
April 2005

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This publication presents the activities and lessons learned from a project which sought to halve malnutrition among preschool children, raise primary school enrollment, reduce dropout and repetition rates, improve psycho-social and cognitive development, and increase the number of mothers practicing appropriate childcare. A strategic communication programme was designed to help mothers and other caregivers adopt new behaviours needed to achieve project outcomes. It helped the project team identify necessary changes in behaviour, knowledge or attitude for all target audiences; frame project-related issues relevant to different stakeholders, such as parliamentarians, mothers, community leaders, educators, and local government administrators; craft persuasive messages according to their needs, concerns and perceptions; and use the most appropriate communication channels. The communication strategy included a: national advocacy effort aimed at parliamentarians, health and education ministry officials, district and community leaders; multi-media campaign that emphasized three behaviour change interventions; training programme for health workers and pre-school teachers on their role; and monitoring and evaluation component to ensure that materials were disseminated via cost-effective channels of communication and that messages reached target audiences. Lessons learned emphasize the value of developing a comprehensive communication strategy during project design.

With the support of multitudes : using strategic communication to fight poverty through PRSPs

MOZAMMEL, Masud
ODUGBEMI, Sina
Eds
2005

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This book is timely and relevant. It makes the crucial point that while building support for Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) is vital to success, such support will not happen without planned, deliberate and sustained efforts to involve the citizenry in an open and inclusive process of two-way communication. This is what is meant by strategic communication. The book gives case studies from all over the world, provides good graphical analysis to prove findings. It was produced in order to improve the chances of success of PRSs in two ways; to show policymakers how strategic communication can help them to achieve some of their objectives in formulating and executing effective PRSs; and to give those actively engaged in the execution of PRSPs guidance on best practice as well as lessons from a community of practice spread around the world

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