Helping people access the information they need |
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| Methodologies for development of appropriate extension messages and communication pathways | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Kenya, a new method has been developed to identify what information communities need and to get it to them effectively. The method involves working closely with communities and conducting needs assessments in order to help local people identify and express what information they need. This is then sourced and provided to the communities in easy-to-understand ways through local organisations like churches, schools and women's groups. These unusual pathways are very effective at delivering a wide range of information. For example, children can be taught about a subject in school using books with lots of pictures. They can then be encouraged to go home and show their often-illiterate parents the books, explaining what they've learned and passing on the information. Project Ref: LPP28 :
Research Programmes: LPP Relevant Research Projects: R7425
Project R7425 was a short pilot-project to develop a methodology which would identify the information needs of poor rural households, source the appropriate technical information and deliver this to the households, in ways which took account of the needs and circumstances of the recipients, using trusted channels. A secondary output was direct information provision to households in the study area, resulting in improved knowledge and access to informationin the community. The project used a needs assessment process and two-way communication with the target communities to enable participation in the identification of topics for inclusion. Technical information was developed by working closely with academic specialists and experienced field workers. Using innovative delivery pathways including schools, churches and women's groups, the project materials reached an estimated 7,300 households. The Wambui finds out. series of ten booklets were recognised by 85% of households in post-project sampling and achieved measurable change in knowledge and attitude in response to questions on information content.
Note: The main Outputs described are a process/methodology for appropriate communication of technical information and the Wambui finds out. series of booklets as a product. However, the implementation of the process could be offered as a service to receiving Governments, agencies and NGOs.
The Outputs in the original project were primarily focussed on livestock production and animal health. However the process crossed sectoral boundaries into the fields of health and education. The methodology is applicable to all commodities and sectors and is particularly appropriate for cross-linking programmes. Since the information-needs identified by the community may not be those identified by agents wishing to "push" particular technologies, any delivery programme has to be able to cross sectoral boundaries and deliver the information that households need.
Unlike many providers of technical information, people and communities do not compartmentalise information into "crops", "livestock", "health" etc. The methodology described in the Output is applicable across the full range of information needs. Indeed, by making stronger linkages between sectors (for example human health and animal health) information delivery becomes more real for people and achieves a synergy that single-issue information campaigns cannot achieve. This concept was tested in the booklet "Clean Hands, Clean Milk" which combined information on human hygiene with information on disease prevention in dairy cattle, using both medical and veterinary specialists to provide technical content. Additional side-issue information can be introduced alongside demand-led technical information so that, for example, issues relating to social development, migration or governance can be explored. Again, by placing technical information in a context which relates to the target audience's own experience, the technical content achieves a greater degree of trust and acceptance. It is not appropriate to define the technical content of information required by any target community in advance of the needs assessment phase of the methodology, however the approach is particularly suited to assisting in delivery of DFID strategic goals in sustainable agriculture, climate change and water management and could be clustered with DFID's preferred research and policy Outputs in these areas. How the outputs were validated: Validation of the methodology was central to the pilot project, with repeated transect studies performed which gave quantitative data on the reach and uptake of the information. Further information on attitudes to the communication process was collected as part of these studies. External validation in the period after project completion was not conducted. However, in more recent work by Mediae and PSI in Kenya (see below), a comic book containing malaria prevention information was validated (ie: proven to be effective) by: School children and their teachers who were asked to conduct two surveys amongst their community members, first when the booklets arrived and the second, three months later. There was a high teacher/student involvement in this project. Many schools went well beyond the recommended participation and validation exercise. Eg: one school encouraged students to read the comic book to more than 50 adults in the community. Another school staged a drama based on the booklet and invited all parents/ adults to come and see it. Another school started a malaria prevention club and lectured other classes in the importance of preventing malaria amongst pregnant women and children under the age of five. Results of the pre and post distribution show
Where the Outputs were Validated: The pilot-project validation was conducted in the Embu District of Kenya amongst settled smallholder farmers in 2001. The farms were along a series of transects which crossed agroclimatic zones from high potential to semi-arid and included households across the social spectrum, with 80% of household in the lower wealth ranks. Who are the Users? Mediae and Population Services International (PSI) are using this methodology in a Malaria Prevention and Control project in Kenya The purpose of the PSI comic book design and distribution project was to communicate the importance of using nets by pregnant women, infants and children under 5 years in very rural areas that are characterised by widespread illiteracy and poor access to health information. Booklets (and posters) were distributed to 2,021 primary schools (85,600 primary, Standard 7 school children) in five high malaria districts (Bondo, Gucha, Kisii, Wale and Makuene). All schools were at least 10 kms from a main road. Children were encouraged to take materials home and show/read them to as many adults as possible in their communities. Where the outputs have been used: Kenya, Districts of Bondo, Gucha, Kisii, Kwale and Makweni. Scale of Current Use: In the current Mediae and PSI work, booklets have been distributed to 2,021 primary schools, with a total of 86,635 Standard 7 students. A total of 88,266 booklets were circulated to these schools, using the District Education Office in each district for distribution. The average number of adults each booklet was shown or read to is as follows: (these are 2005 findings)
Standard 7 pupils in these schools are encouraged to read/show/interpret the content of the comic book (which contains detailed information on malaria prevention) to often illiterate adults, with the aim of encouraging behaviour change in the home, especially with vulnerable groups. Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success: A key principle of the methodology described in this Output is to make full use, in innovative ways, of existing institutional structures (including informal ones). The programmes, platforms, policies and institutional structures that are useful in one location may not necessarily be useful in another. Institutional mapping is an important part of the needs assessment process and helps to identify appropriate delivery pathways. Key Facts of Success:
Lessons Learned and Uptake Pathways Promotion of Outputs: Kenya: Mediae and PSI workedin five districts around the country (see above) in 2005 (for which survey findings have been elicited). This distribution has now expanded to include another 12 districts across Kenya (Murang'a, Maragua, Kirinyaga, Kajiado, Machakos, Kitui, Mwingi, Nandi North, Nandi South, Baringo, Marakwet and West Pokot). Currently there are 221,700 booklets that have been distributed to a total of 221,595 Standard 7 primary children in 5,003 schools. Potential Barriers Preventing Adoption of Outputs: Adequate finance so that information can be better tailored to disadvantaged groups and delivered through the most appropriate channels. While innovative use of mass-market information channels can achieve significant "reach", there is a tendency for excluded groups to have less engagement with these processes and for information to become more generic and less targeted at local needs. Institutional support is required at all levels, through an explicit and structured strategy for delivery of technical information and an acceptance by staff at all levels that information provision is worthwhile. Policy makers and local politicians need to be supportive of information provision, even if this may lead to raised expectations of good governance. Scientists and technical advisors need to see the value of communicating basic information to people, even where this may not appear to support the direction of their scientific research or their commercial interests. Literacy, language and social exclusion are also barriers to information provision, however, an appropriate communications strategy, by definition, must be designed to work around such barriers, using the existing knowledge and information systems that excluded groups already use. How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs: The Methodology described in the Output is designed to recognise the barriers to adoption and internalise these by developing appropriate communication pathways. In this way the Output works with the strengths in the livelihoods framework rather than focusing on constraint removal. Lessons Learned: Learning how to get technical outputs used by the largest number of poor people was the main focus of the project.
Poverty Impact Studies: Wealth-ranking was carried out as part of the project's information needs assessment. Trained staff used visual cues to allocate households to one of four wealth levels. 80% of the households in the study area were found to be in the lowest two quartiles. The needs assessment results indicated a strong demand for information on livestock associated with the lower end of the poverty scale - bees, rabbits and poultry. A simple benefit/cost analysis for provision of information on treatment of adult cattle for worms was carried out. The difference in cost between the pre-release practice and the recommended practice was 1,000 Kenya Shillings (KSh) a year and the cost of each booklet was 20 Ksh, giving a break-even point for benefit at an uptake level of only 2%. The actual level of uptake for this particular issue was at the lowest end of the range for knowledge-change shown in the study, however at 6% this was still comfortably above break-even point for benefit over cost. (For comparison, the highest change in knowledge on any topic in the study was 50%). How the Poor have Benefited (including gender and other poverty groups): As mentioned above, the project has no objectively verified evidence of impacts on the livelihoods of people in the target area. This was an 18-month pilot-project and the required follow-up studies were never commissioned. In a complex information environment, it is impossible to isolate project-related benefits from other influences. The project achieved measurable changes in knowledge and, for certain topics, this knowledge can be shown to have led to changes in attitude. However, changes in attitude do not necessarily lead to changes in practices and changes in practices do not always lead to improvements in livelihoods. The project reached 7,300 households in a target area where 80% of the households were in the lowest half of the wealth scale. Changes in household knowledge varied between 6% and 50% depending on the topic. Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits: As indicated above, the Output can contribute to farmers implementing good environmental practice. An unintended but useful side benefit is often seen with appropriate materials, since these materials are often popular with policy makers and senior officials, who also "learn" from them. In a reversal of the normal environmental mantra, by helping policy makers to think locally, they are better able to act globally. Adverse Environmental Impacts: None. Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters: This is a particular strength of the Output. To cope with climate change, people need information that may not be readily available in their existing knowledge system. They need to learn new strategies to minimise or avoid risks, they need to adopt new coping mechanisms. The better informed people are, the more resilient they become. Relevant Research Projects,
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