NCCDC I FFL

FACTS FOR LIFE (FFL) GROUP COMMUNICATION PROJECT Lalitpur District, Uttar Pradesh

Reach out to communities from 682 inaccessible villages of Lalitpur District with a high proportion of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and migrant populations and alarming child health and nutrition indicators, to promote practice of eleven key behaviours and related complementary behaviours, integral to child survival, growth and development.

Establish a strong community connect through Group Communication sessions in these villages that involve farmers, daily-wagers, housewives and individuals across diverse social groups to understand and act on key health behaviours.

The project married theory with practice. It used the tried and tested “Seven megaphones theory ” coupled with Kurt Lewins’ three stages of "Unfreeze – Move –Freeze" phases for lasting communication. A focused BCC initiative in the form of Group Communication (GC) sessions using audio-visual tools, set in the local milieu, tailor-made to suit group communication and community dialogue drove home key messages. Novel strategies devised to hold audience interest and ensure message retention: impromptu performances of folk songs with lyrics that emphasised healthy behaviours, barriers and how to overcome them. Many pre-planned initiatives helped mobilise and engage community members. For example, Prabhat Pheris, a colourful procession of volunteers making announcements, playing folk music and distributing IEC materials, generated sufficient interest, bringing people to the venues. Integrated capacity-building activities based on assessment of knowledge gained by participants after each session helped refine communication approcahes. A well-organised project team managed , monitored and supported the trained group of skilled Group Communication Facilitators (GCF) leading the group communication efforts at the grass-roots.

A focused BCC initiative in the form of Group Communication (GC) sessions using audio-visual tools

The Project reached around 1,30,000 community members over the 5,500 group communication sessions conducted by the teams. Helped communities and individuals overcome their biases and reach out to marginalised sections to participate in the programme. Many "women’s-only" helped women raise questions and understand issues that they wouldn't have raised otherwise. To aid "social inclusion", many sessions carried out in habitations of socially-excluded groups to ensure the messages reached those who had no other source for obtaining such information. A substantial increase in knowledge levels among the participants was observed across the GC themes. The project helped reinforce behavioural outcomes critical to infant and child survival in Lalitpur's remote villages, setting the stage for preventive and curative interventions that can be implemented through a mix of actions at the household and community level, along with basic primary healthcare.