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Breakthrough ACTION Liberia - Advocacy Fact Sheet
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Advocacy Fact Sheet

Breakthrough ACTION Liberia worked closely with the Liberia Ministry of Health to develop these health-related fact sheets to be used at the community level by advocacy groups. Fact sheets are used by local and regional level advocacy groups to support services for WASH, zoonotic diseases, malaria, facility-based delivery, nutrition, and family planning.

Last modified: July 21, 2024

Language: English

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Year of Publication: 2024

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Leadership, Resource Mobilization, and Budget Management Facilitator Guide
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Leadership, Resource Mobilization, and Budget Management Facilitator Guide

A Coaching Tool for Health Advocacy Committees in Liberia

Working with the health advocacy committees (HACs) in Liberia, we have identified several major capacity gaps in the following areas: leadership, resource acquisition and management, and budgeting. Breakthrough ACTION Liberia designed this coaching booklet using the Goal, Reality, Options, and Will (GLOW) model, a simple method of goal setting and problem-solving to help HACs transition to independent, health-focused, civil society organizations (CSOs). This guidance also helps ensure ownership and sustainability.

The coaching booklet aims to enhance the knowledge and skills of HAC members using practical, hands-on instructions for raising and managing resources, leading effectively, and managing budgets. It explains how to talk about the programs, address community needs, and solicit donations from supporters, as well as how to compete with other CSOs for funding opportunities. This practical guide thus supports the following objectives: learning effective leadership skills, transitioning to an independent CSO, mobilizing resources, and developing proposals.

Last modified: July 21, 2024

Language: English

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Year of Publication: 2024

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Dynamics of Vaccine Hesitancy: A Practitioner’s Playbook
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Dynamics of Vaccine Hesitancy: A Practitioner’s Playbook

Over the past decade, coverage of routine immunizations for children has plateaued. During COVID-19, nearly 25 million children lost out on life-saving vaccinations leaving them still unprotected from VPDs today (UNICEF Innocenti, 2023). Almost half of these children live in the African continent (World Health Organization, 2020). Annually, nearly all children who die from VPDs are from LMICs (Frenkel, 2021). In 2018 alone, an estimated 99% of the 700,000 children who died from VPDs lived in LMICs (Frenkel L. D., 2021).

Assessing the features of vaccine hesitancy can show us that the intention to be vaccinated and the behavioral outcome of vaccination is intimately related to context, and the antecedents of vaccination vary across time, place, and vaccine. As such, Busara has been working closely with PATH to assess the dynamics of vaccine hesitancy and to develop actionable guidance on how to understand, categorize, and respond to vaccine hesitancy.

The DRIVE Demand project, launched by PATH with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, is a two-year initiative aimed at expanding the use of digital health tools to boost immunization in Honduras, Mali, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia. By collaborating with Ministries of Health, we strived to enhance the understanding and influence of vaccine demand, supporting national COVID-19 and routine immunization goals while strengthening data-driven health systems across Asia, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

To tackle vaccine hesitancy, Busara’s research took a four-step approach. We began with a thorough evidence review using the COM-B model to analyze behavioral dynamics. This was followed by qualitative studies with focus group discussions (FGDs) among unvaccinated adults, pregnant women, and community health workers. These discussions revealed crucial insights into the beliefs, attitudes, and concerns about vaccination across different demographics.

The study revealed that vaccine hesitancy exists on a continuum between acceptance and refusal, influenced by both abstract barriers (e.g., conspiracy theories) for those with negative attitudes, and more tangible barriers (e.g., social permission, vaccine availability) for those with neutral or positive attitudes. These findings were synthesized into actionable recommendations in our playbook for Ministries of Health to optimize immunization campaigns and pandemic preparedness, for understanding these dynamics is key to fostering vaccine intention and addressing the social and cultural factors behind vaccine hesitancy.

The DRIVE Demand project offers a valuable toolkit to help health ministries and partners effectively engage vaccine-hesitant populations and improve immunization rates.

Last modified: July 21, 2024

Language: English

Source: Busara

Year of Publication: 2024

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Measuring Social and Behavior Change in Nutrition Programs: A Guide for Evaluators
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Measuring Social and Behavior Change in Nutrition Programs: A Guide for Evaluators

Program evaluations play a critical role in improving the quality and determining the effectiveness of the social and behavior change (SBC) strategies and approaches needed to reach nutrition program outcomes. This guide supports implementing partners who are involved with evaluating an activity that uses SBC to improve multi-sectoral nutrition outcomes. The document focuses on enhancing skills by incorporating the nuances of evaluating SBC approaches for improving nutrition outcomes. Links to helpful general evaluation guidance are incorporated for reference.

Also available in French and Portuguese

Last modified: July 21, 2024

Language: English

Source: USAID Advancing Nutrition

Year of Publication: 2023

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Effect of Social and Behavior Change Activities on Malaria Behaviors in Guyana
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Effect of Social and Behavior Change Activities on Malaria Behaviors in Guyana

In 2019, the USAID-funded Breakthrough ACTION project, led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and other partners, collaborated with the Guyana Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Program to develop a social behavior change program to improve priority malaria-related health behaviors among gold miners within Regions 7 and 8 of Guyana.

The SBC program strategy was based on the ideation model of social behavior change, which shows how different ideas, that is, “ideational factors,” about behavior, impact whether an individual practices a behavior. This research report highlights key findings from research activities undertaken by Breakthrough ACTION Guyana to assess the reach and behavioral impact of SBC activities and summarize key learnings about the work to improve malaria-related behaviors among the gold mining population in Guyana.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication programs

Date of Publication: July 1, 2024

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Miners' Buzz
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Miners’ Buzz

Miners’ Buzz represents an innovative approach to entertainment education, weaving authentic narratives from mining life with crucial malaria prevention, testing, and treatment messages. This features miner narrating their own stories via brief audio and video clips, deftly integrating key information on malaria. It is crafted for distribution across multiple accessible channels to maximize reach and engagement.

Miners’ Buzz is important because it will help to leverage the power of entertainment and storytelling as engaging ways to connect with the mining community, overcome literacy barriers, and foster a unique peer-to-peer engagement platform, with content created “by miners, for miners,” enhancing relatability and impact.

Video Clips

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: June 24, 2024

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Cover page of document Insights from Qualitative Research - COVID-19 Prevention Behaviors in Côte d'Ivoire
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Barriers to COVID-19 prevention behaviors in Côte d’Ivoire

Prevention remains essential to reduce the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Effective prevention measures (called barrier measures or non-pharmaceutical interventions) against COVID-19 and similar respiratory pathogens are well documented: mask-wearing, distancing, hand hygiene, crowd avoidance, limitation of non-essential travel, and post-exposure quarantine. However, adherence to preventive measures is difficult to maintain over the long term, and many studies have shown low or declining adherence in a variety of settings. Understanding the factors that prevent individuals from adopting COVID-19 prevention behaviors is necessary to design and implement effective public health programs to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: June 10, 2024

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Approaching Provider Behavior Change Monitoring and Evaluation With a Social-Ecological Lens Brief
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Approaching Provider Behavior Change Monitoring and Evaluation With a Social-Ecological Lens Brief

The Approaching Provider Behavior Change Monitoring and Evaluation With a Social-Ecological Lens brief builds on Breakthrough ACTON’s suite of provider behavior change (PBC) tools, which support the application of a social-ecological lens to design and implementation of PBC interventions. This suite of tools consists of the Provider Behavior Ecosystem Map and the Provider Behavior Change Toolkit. PBC interventions that are designed and implemented using a social-ecological lens must be monitored and evaluated through the same lens.

This brief explores the new frontiers of applying a social-ecological lens to the monitoring and evaluation of PBC interventions. It uses the organizing structure of the Provider Behavior Ecosystem Map to discuss insights, findings, and recommendations. There is also a list of illustrative indicators for consideration and use.

The primary audience for this brief is program planners and implementers working at the intersection of health systems strengthening, service delivery, and social and behavior change or otherwise working to understand and improve provider behavior through PBC interventions.

Although this brief and set of tools focuses on family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) service delivery and use related examples, they can be applied more broadly to other health areas. This broader application is important given how commonly FP/RH providers offer services across health areas, especially in integrated service delivery.

A short instructional video in English and French was developed to provide an overview of the brief.

Last modified: June 10, 2024

Language: English, French

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Year of Publication: 2024

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Provider Behavior Change Toolkit for Family Planning
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Provider Behavior Change Toolkit for Family Planning

The Provider Behavior Change Toolkit for Family Planning builds on the Provider Behavior Ecosystem to inspire practical solutions in these areas.

The toolkit helps users:

  1. Identify, understand, and prioritize factors influencing provider behavior.
  2. Design and implement locally appropriate, supportive provider-related initiatives that address root causes of behavior.

The toolkit guides users through an empathy-focused, four-step process that supports providers, clients, and district health teams in identifying and prioritizing the root causes of provider behavior and generating local solutions. To deliver a holistic view of provider behavior, the toolkit employs a systems lens. The toolkit also uses a multi-level approach to gather perspectives and input on provider behavior from a variety of stakeholders. It positions providers as part of the inquiry and solution development process rather than as part of the problem.

What is included in the Provider Behavior Change Toolkit?

  • Diagnostic tools to help users identify and prioritize provider-related barriers and facilitators to the delivery of quality health services in multiple contexts.
  • Synthesis tools that help users summarize information from the diagnostic process and prioritize challenges to be addressed by programmatic activities.
  • Programmatic tools that help users design and implement more effective provider-related initiatives.
  • An instruction booklet that guides users through the process of implementing the toolkit.

A companion instructional video is also available in English and French.

Last modified: June 10, 2024

Language: English, French

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Year of Publication: 2022

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Provider Behavior Ecosystem Map

The Provider Behavior Ecosystem Map is a thinking tool to help those working in family planning and reproductive health:

  • Understand and consider diverse factors that influence facility-based provider behavior
  • Understand how those factors interact with one another in a system
  • Think more holistically about provider behavior change (PBC)
  • Design, implement, and evaluate more supportive, effective PBC initiatives

The Ecosystem Map presents healthcare providers as people whose behavior is influenced by many factors at multiple levels of a system. It emphasizes the need for systemic thinking and supportive action when designing and implementing PBC programming. Using the ecosystem map is a first step in the design—or adjustment—of supportive provider behavior change initiatives.

The Provider Behavior Ecosystem Map is available in both English and French. In addition, a new instructional video was developed in English and French to provide an overview of the tool and how it can and has been used.

Last modified: June 10, 2024

Language: English, French

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Year of Publication: 2021

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