UNICEF Guide to Communication Strategies PDF

Acknowledgements Authors Members of the Programme Communication Coordination Team, UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office: (Alphabetically): Arthur Tweneboa-Kodua, Camilla Merrild, Lazeena Muna, Mira Mitra, Nafisa Binte...

Acknowledgements Authors Members of the Programme Communication Coordination Team, UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office: (Alphabetically): Arthur Tweneboa-Kodua, Camilla Merrild, Lazeena Muna, Mira Mitra, Nafisa Binte Shafique, Nawshad Ahmed, Ohidur Rashid, Shirin Hussain, Syeedul Hoque Milky, Tamanna Taher, Tasmia Bashar, Zafrin J. Chowdhury Editor Judith A. Graeff, Ph.D., Programme Communication Specialist, UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office Consultants Asifa Rahman and Emily Booker Design SW Multimedia Ltd. © United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2008 Permission to reproduce any part of this publication is required. Please contact: Knowledge Management Unit Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Section UNICEF Bangladesh 1, Minto Road Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh Tel: (+880-2) 9336701-10 Fax: (+880-2) 9335641-42 Email: [email protected] http: //www.unicef.org/bangladesh Website: www.unicef.org Cover Photo: © UNICEF/Anwar Hossain, Azizur Rahman Peu, Birenda Shrestha, Naser Siddique, Shehzad Noorani, Sheikh Masudur Rahman Contents PREFACE......................................................................................................................... 5 I. INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 The Three Communication Components........................................... 7 1.1 Conceptual Models......................................................................... 7 1.2 The Communication Coordination Group................................10 II. DOING THE ANALYSIS Background.................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 2 The Situation............................................................................................ 13 2.1 Writing the Situation Analysis....................................................13 Chapter 3 The Programme.......................................................................................16 3.1 Review............................................................................................... 16 3.2 Current Programme....................................................................... 16 Chapter 4 The Participants...................................................................................... 21 4.1 Analysis............................................................................................ 21 4.2 Building the Supportive Environment...................................... 23 Chapter 5 The Behaviours....................................................................................... 26 5.1 Behavioural Objectives................................................................. 26 5.2 Behavioural Analysis..................................................................... 27 5.3 Stages of Behaviour Change...................................................... 29 Chapter 6 The Communication Channels........................................................... 31 6.1 Channel Characteristics............................................................... 31 6.2 Mix and Match Channels............................................................ 35 6.3 Channel and Participant Match................................................. 36 III. DEVELOPING THE STRATEGY Background.................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 7 Community Participation...................................................................... 39 7.1 Community Participation in Communication.......................... 41 7.2 The Process..................................................................................... 42 Chapter 8 Communication Objectives................................................................. 43  Chapter 9 Designing the Strategy......................................................................... 47 9.1 Advocacy......................................................................................... 47 9.2 Social Mobilization........................................................................ 52 9.3 Behaviour Change Communication......................................... 53 9.4 Communication Strategy Matrix............................................... 55 IV. NEXT STEPS Chapter 10 Monitoring Communication Outcomes......................................... 58 10.1 Participatory Monitoring............................................................60 Chapter 11 Funding and Budget Design..............................................................62 Chapter 12 From Strategy to Implementation....................................................63 Table 1 Channel Characteristics........................................................................ 32 Table 2 Community Participation Levels..........................................................40 Table 3 Participant Analysis for Advocacy at the Local Level.................. 50 Table 4 Matrix of Strategic Components for EPI.......................................... 56 Table 5 Communication Objectives: Outputs and Outcomes................... 59 Table 6 EPI: Dropout Reduction........................................................................ 60 List of Figures Figure 1 ACADA Communication Planning and Implementation Process... 8 Figure 2 The P-Process...........................................................................................9 Figure 3 Participant circle with primary........................................................... 21 Figure 4 Participant circle secondary added................................................... 22 Figure 5 Participant circle tertiary added......................................................... 23 Figure 6 Programme focus and supportive environment........................... 24 Figure 7 Further Analysis of key secondary participants............................. 25 Figure 8 Stages of Behaviour Change.............................................................. 30 Figure 9 Principle advocacy objectives to create a supportive environment 48 List of Examples in Boxes Box 1 The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)....................... 14 Box 2 Programme Analysis Example on Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (CIDD)................................................................ 18 Appendices Appendix 1 Sample Terms of Reference for a Communication Coordination Committees.......................................................................... 64 Appendix 2 Additional Resources and List of References....................................... 72 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES PREFACE UNICEF Bangladesh Programme Communication Coordination Team has prepared this Guideline, Writing a Communication Strategy for Development Programmes, as a practical manual for development professionals. The Team has developed this tool to guide the actual writing of a communication strategy for a programme or a project-- a strategy that supports a programme to achieve its development goals, especially its social and behavioural objectives. This tool guides the writer of the strategy to use results of research and various analyses to shape communication approaches into a strategy document. Although the Guideline focuses on the writer of the strategy, this does not suggest a top-down approach to strategy development. Indeed, all the steps in strategy development, from doing the analyses and the planning to monitoring activities and outcomes, should always involve an appropriate mix of programme participants and development partners. Users of the Guideline The primary user of this tool will have a development background, will be aware of the social and behavioural change issues related to the programme, will understand how communication can be used to address these issues and will recognize the importance of using research data to build a strategy. In addition, managers might use this tool to guide the work of an outside agency that is contracted to develop the communication strategy for the programme. Scope of the Guideline There is no ideal time in the life of a development programme for writing a communication strategy. Communication strategy development could come at any stage - at initial planning, after a programme plan has been approved and funded, or even while it is being implemented. But regardless of the programme stage, it is important for the communication professional to work closely with programme staff, with partners and stakeholders, and to do the analyses together that are the basis of a sound strategy. For example, where a programme plan has been approved but behavioural objectives are not clearly defined, this would be an opportunity for dialogue between programme and communication staff to agree together on behavioural objectives, thus keeping programme and communication planning integrated. The Guideline can help to structure this process. This Guideline is designed to accommodate any of the analytical models currently being used such as ACADA, the P-process or COMBI. These models are described 5 PREFACE  briefly in the introduction and references are available in Figure 1, 2. Whichever is used, this tool fits the model to guide the actual writing of the communication strategy. It is beyond the scope of this Guideline, however, to cover all steps in the communication process--as included in the models mentioned above. It is also beyond the scope of this tool to explain HOW to do participant and behaviour analyses, to develop objectives, to do community participation, etc. Practical implementation tools exist for most of these steps, and should be used as needed to supplement this present Guideline. Content of the Guideline The Guideline is divided into two main parts: doing the analysis and developing the strategy. It begins with advice on the analyses needed for strategy development: the development issue, the programme to be supported, the participants and their behaviours, and the communication channels. The second part addresses the actual development of the strategy-taking the results of analyses to develop communication objectives and shape advocacy, social mobilization and behaviour change communication accordingly. Practical advice is given to develop, design and write the strategy, ensuring participation of primary participants and the community itself. In the section on last steps, three important aspects of successful communication are included: monitoring outcomes, funding and going from the strategy to implemention. While these are not directly related to strategy development, they are integral to communication strategy implementation, so are included in the document. The authors hope that this Guideline will provide help to all those developing a communication strategy and welcome feedback and comments from users on how it influenced their work. 6 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES Introduction Chapter 1 The Three Communication Components Chapter 1 The Three Communication Components A number of definitions are used in the communication for development field to describe the three basic components of communication: advocacy, social mobilization and behaviour change (or behaviour development) communication. Although listed separately, “effective communication relies on the synergistic use of three strategic components”. (UNICEF, 1999) Below are brief working definitions used in this document. More detailed discussions of these three components are found in subsequent chapters of the Guideline. q Advocacy informs and motivates leadership to create a supportive environment to achieve programme objectives and development goals. q Social mobilization engages and supports participation of institutions, community networks, social/civic and religious groups to raise demand for or sustain progress toward a development objective. q Behaviour change communication involves face-to-face dialogue with individuals or groups to inform, motivate, problem-solve or plan, with the objective to promote and sustain behaviour change. 1.1 Conceptual Models A number of conceptual models are being widely used to inform communication in development programmes. This Guideline should be used with any of those models to shape a solid strategy document. Below is a brief description of three of these models: ACADA, the P-Process and COMBI. 7 INTRODUCTION  ACADA The ACADA model (Assessment, Communication Analysis, Design, Action) has been developed and is widely used by UNICEF. It shows the process of using systematically-gathered data to link a communication strategy to the development problem. The diagram below illustrates this model: Figure 1: ACADA Communication Planning and Implementation Process ACADA Communication Planning Process Assessment Situation Report Evaluation Communication Analysis Problem Analysis/Statement Behaviour Analysis Participant Analysis Communication Channel Analysis Action Implement Plan Communication Research Objectives Message & Material & Evaluation Indicators Development Monitoring Pre-testing & Revisions Materials Dissemination & Training plan Monitoring & Evaluation plan Design Strategy Plan Advocacy Plan of Action Social Mobilization Behaviour Development Communication Select/Determine Strategies/Activities Partners/Roles Channels Approach, Appeal, Tone Programme Communication, UNICEF New York Cohen & Luciani P-Process The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and its partners in the USAID-supported Population Communication Services (PCS) project developed the P-Process in 1982 as a tool for planning strategic, evidence-based communication programmes. It contains 5 steps: 8 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES 1. Analysis q Situation Analysis q Audience/Communication Analysis - including participant, behavioural and communication channel analysis. 2. Strategic Design - including communication objectives, channel choice, implementation and M&E plan. 3. Development & Testing - including message development and pre-testing. 4. Implementation & Monitoring - including capacity building. 5. Evaluation & Replanning Below is a diagram which illustrates the process: Figure 2: The P-Process Steps in Strategic Communication ent Ca 3 pm ting pa c i ty & T lo s Im Monitoring e e Dev ple & Strengt hening men t ation Participation 4 Strategic Design 2 5 Evaluation & Replanting Analysis Step 1 Analysis 1 Step 2 Strategic Design Step 3 Development & Testing Step 4 Implementation & Monitoring Step 5 Evaluation & Replanting COMBI The COMBI approach (Communication for Behavioural Impact) was initiated in WHO's Communicable Diseases Programme by Everhold Hosein and Elil Renganathan. COMBI, uses 10 steps for its communication planning model. These 10 steps are not necessarily done in a linear fashion-as with the other models, steps are often repeated. 1. State Overall Goal 2. State expected Behavioural Results/Objectives 9 INTRODUCTION  3. Conduct Situational "Market" Analysis vis-à-vis Precise Behavioural Result. This would include: current situation, market segmentation, force field analysis, SWOT analysis, consumer need/want/desire, cost, convenience, positioning, competitors, communication situation/issues, further research, programme pre-requisites 4. Present an overall strategy for achieving stated behavioural results 5. Present the COMBI Plan of Action 6. Management: Describe structure for managing the implementation of COMBI Plan 7. Monitoring 8. Impact Assessment 9. Scheduling: Provide a Calendar/Time-Line/Implementation Plan 10.Budget Discussion The many similarities in these models reflect a general consensus of “what works” and what planning, implementation and M&E steps are necessary for lasting effects of communication activities. Thus, this Guideline is not attempting to replace such conceptual models, but aims to provide a tool for programme and communication officers to write the communication strategy document that grows from these models. The resulting strategy then is shaped by the data and analyses, and serves as the spring-board for the remaining steps in the models such as message development and pre-testing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. 1.2 The Communication Coordination Group As this Guideline is focused specifically on providing advice for writing a communication strategy, it will not address the establishment of a communication coordination group because such a group should be set up before writing the strategy. Nevertheless, such a team is important to guide the direction of the strategy, as well as to play an essential part in building and sustaining partnerships throughout the life of the programme. A Communication Coordination Group may already exist for the programme but if not, a number of working examples and TOR outlines are available from UNICEF for forming communication coordination teams. The group should be inter- sectoral and include representatives from key partners in the programme including 10 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES relevant government ministries, leading NGOs and CBOs, frontline workers, representatives from the media, donors and UN agencies. Examples of two are in the Appendix-1 to this document. Although all the models emphasize that the communication process is not linear, the flow of the process can be summarized as follows: a communication committee is established (if not already existing), then the process moves into the assessment, analysis and design phase (the subjects of this Guideline) and finally the implementation plan is developed followed by monitoring and evaluation. The first part of the Guideline now follows: Doing the Analysis. 11 INTRODUCTION  Doing the analysis Chapter 2 The Situation Chapter 3 The Programme Chapter 4 The Participants Chapter 5 The Behaviours Chapter 6 The Communication Channels Background Analysis develops the rationale or foundation upon which a communication strategy is built. In order to do the analysis, data are collected from research, project documents and participatory processes, such as workshops with stakeholders, meetings with counterparts and partners, and field visits for community dialogue. This analysis process is not just for building a communication strategy, but is part of programme planning for social and behaviour change. It is from this programme planning that the communication issues emerge so that the strategy will clearly support the social and behaviour change objectives of the programme. Components of a comprehensive analysis would be the sector situation, the programme's structure and capacity, participants, their behaviours (current and desired) and communication channels. These will be covered below. 12 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES Chapter 2 The Situation The situation analysis should describe the particular development issue the programme is addressing such as childhood disease, malnutrition, child trafficking, maternal mortality, children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, inadequate safe water and sanitation. The situation analysis should be based on data from research, programme documents and local knowledge. This information will be similar to that already included in the situation analysis of the programme. In addition to analyzing immediate aspects of the problem, including the underlying social and cultural issues, the analysis should also describe what social structures and practices could contribute to desirable change. At the end of this chapter, the reader should have a clear idea of the scope of the problem, its negative impact on the population, but also who benefits from the problem and why. That being said, the communication strategy document should include only KEY information that is pertinent to the communication objectives. Below are suggested areas to cover, but the situation analysis should be no more than two pages. 2.1 Writing the Situation Analysis Global Start with a brief global view of the problem. Describe the pertinent global instruments for addressing the problem such as the MDGs or a PRSP. National Write a country-specific description of the problem using available data, programme documents and local knowledge. Show the extent to which people are affected by the problem (e.g. how many people are affected by HIV/AIDS, what the school dropout rate is, how many children remain without immunization). When reporting national statistics, as much as possible, disaggregate along pertinent lines such as geographical area, cultural or religious groups, socio-economic status, age, and sex to focus the situation analysis on issues essential to social and behaviour change. For example: health outcome data are usually available, but in order to 13 DOING THE ANALYSIS  focus on improving EPI coverage, national coverage data need to be broken down district by district, by relevant groups that characterize the society such as religion, conflict areae, gender issues, caste, geographic and seasonal issues important to include information that describes the social and behavioural factors influencing health status. Social/cultural and behavioural factors: It is essential to analyze the underlying causes of development problem to get an in depth picture of the particular behaviours (i.e. what are people doing/not doing) that are contributing to the problem. It is also important to suggest from the data WHY people behave as they do. Cite any research on current knowledge, attitudes, practices and beliefs among participant groups relevant to the development issue. Look into the socio-cultural and economic factors maintaining existing behaviours, both positive and negative behaviours. This answers the “why” question. If the objective of a programme is to stop a harmful practice such as child marriage or employing child labour, it is important to discuss not only the harmful effects of the practice, but also who benefits and how (e.g. how families benefit from child marriage, how child labour contribute to the well-being of the family/employers) To be effective, the communication strategy will need to address both the benefits and risks from harmful practices as well as the barriers to adopting positive practices. Break this description into intermediate, underlying and basic causes if it helps organize the information. This comprehensive analysis will give a basic description of the problem that must be addressed by the communication strategy will address. Below is a typical example. Box 1: The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Global situation Since the launch of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974, vaccination programmes have been one of the world's most cost-effective public health strategies. These programmes reduce the burden of infectious disease globally and serve as a key building block for health systems in the developing world. 14 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES Country situation EPI in country XXX was inaugurated on April 7, 1979. In 2006, more than 3.5 million children under 1 year of age were targeted for vaccination against the 7 diseases covered under EPI. Although there have been tangible changes in the mortality and morbidity rates due to the intervention since 1979, national coverage has remained around 60% for the last few years. Accessibility to vaccination is almost universal, as evidenced by 95% coverage of BCG–the first vaccination after birth. Significant gaps remain, however, in achieving full vaccination at the right age and intervals. According to data available from the Coverage Evaluation Survey (CES) 2000, while nationally 96% of the parents knew that children should be fully immunized by their first birthday, only 53% were translating the knowledge into action. Recent research (National EPI Survey, 2005) has indicated that although the awareness level of the importance of the vaccination is very high (96%), accurate knowledge regarding the number of doses, correct intervals, expected side effects, places where services area offered and right age for measles vaccination was found to be significantly low. Reports also show that a considerably high number of parents are aware of the importance of the vaccination and its schedules, yet they are reluctant to take their children to the vaccination sites at the right age and right interval, because they have their own traditional beliefs. In addition, outreach services are often unpredictable and health workers usually vaccinate without speaking to the guardian about the child's next visit per the schedule. This indicates that drop-outs (leaving the programme of their own choice) and left-outs (those who are not reached because of lack of adequate outreach) pose the greatest challenge. As part of the RED approach (Reaching Every District) promoted by WHO/UNICEF, the national EPI programme with UNICEF support has launched a special initiative focusing of the 15 lowest performing districts (those with completion rates below 60%). The purpose is to fine tune solutions to the local problems impeding full coverage of all eligible children. Special micro-planning sessions at the district level have produced action plans for sub-district teams. 15 DOING THE ANALYSIS  Chapter 3 The Programme The situation analysis has described the broad areas of a development issue, and its underlying causes at the country level. This chapter in the strategy document should analyze the specific programme designed to respond to the problem and for which the communication strategy is being developed. The purpose is to find programme structures that can be adapted or strengthened for communication purposes and/or where communication can help the programme achieve some of its objectives. Below are suggested areas to include, but this analysis should focus on issues relevant to social and behaviour change. These analyses are to help build the rationale for a communication strategy. 3.1 Review t Describe briefly what has been the national response to this problem up to present time. t Describe the contribution of government, UNICEF (and other UN agencies), donors, NGOs, other major initiatives and the private sector role. Include these programme achievements, constraints, lessons learned and challenges. t If the communication strategy is to cover a “phase-II” of an ongoing initiative, include a brief description of phase-I focusing on objectives, accomplishments and lessons learned. t Include a discussion of communication initiatives to date, including a list of all communication materials that have been produced so far - how they have been used and how effective they have been. 3.2 Current Programme q Identify national goals and objectives and how this programme/project fits into the national plan and/or how it supports the MDGs, PRSP. q List goals and specific objectives of the programme and results expected, taken directly from the programme documents. 16 WRITING A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES q Thoroughly describe the programme structure and implementing partners and activities. Some suggested topics are listed below, but use the programme document and discussions with programme officers as primary information sources. t Identify stakeholders involved in the programme at various national, sub-national and community levels. Include frontline workers from government, NGOs, and CBOs who are significant participants in the programme. Describe their roles, skill levels, support/ supervision, constraints/strengths. Include community participation here. To what extent has the community been involved in the programme? What roles and outcomes are expected from the community? t Describe the extent to which existing service delivery is available and used (discuss access issues as well as quality of service). Description of service delivery agents can come here if not covered elsewhere (role, skill level, support/ supervision, constraints/ strengths). t Look at resource mobilization - are any new resources, partners, channels being introduced in current programme? Any relevance to the programme's ability to achieve its objectives? t Review supply and delivery issues -- facilities, hardware, equipment, materials (mention these only if they are a constraint to communication, participants' behaviour change or if infrastructure building is a significant aspect of the programme- such as establishing and equipping drop-in centers for an HIV/AIDS programme from which peer education and counseling will be implemented). q Describe the extent to which the programme addresses the social and behavioural factors described in the situation analysis. What are the gaps in the data? 17 DOING THE ANALYSIS  Box 2: Programme Analysis example on CIDD The Government of Bangladesh is committed to Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) elimination, which has been reflected in many documents like Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper; 2004-2009 National Plan of Action for Children; the Millennium Declaration to measure progress towards the reduction of poverty, and related social inequities; and Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Programme (HNPSP 2003-10) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). The overall goal of the current Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (CIDD) project is to eliminate IDD in Bangladesh (