January-February 2018 Partner Update

PARTNER
UPDATE

January/February
2018

Alive & Thrive News Melinda Gates at the Poa Health Center on January 23.
Photo credit: Ric Francis | Zuma Press
Alive & Thrive presents and hosts
auxiliary event at upcoming Burkina Faso
social and behavior change
communication summit. ~ A&T program hosts Melinda Gates for part of her first
trip to Burkina Faso. At the Poa health center in the
New data and results from A&T Centre Ouest region, Melinda met with women visiting the
maternal, infant, and young child clinic with their infants and health workers who had
nutrition (MIYCN) projects in participated in A&T’s training on conducting high-quality
Ethiopia will be shared in a series breastfeeding counseling. Melinda documented her
of oral presentations at the experiences on Instagram.
International Social and Behavior
Change Communication Summit in
Nusa, Dua, Indonesia, April 16-20.

As part of the conference, the
ASEAN region will be featured in an
auxiliary event on April 18. This
session will share experiences and
lessons learned in nutrition and
early newborn care.

~ Dissemination event highlights results and ECOWAS
learning from Phase 2 activities (2014-2017).
A&T’s evaluation partners, the London School of ~ A&T expands its initiative into a new region
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and and holds regional consultation meeting.
AFRICSanté, presented the results of an impact Adapting its model from ASEAN, A&T began its
evaluation conducted in the Boucle du Mouhoun work in The Economic Community of West African
region in 2017, which showed significant States (ECOWAS) Region. A&T will facilitate
improvements in breastfeeding knowledge, learning, and provide policy advocacy technical
attitudes, and reported practices. A&T discussed assistance to help implement high-impact social
how it will build on these successes in its next phase behavior change and health system strengthening
of programming (2017-2022), including expanding approaches for MIYCN. A&T attended a regional
the focus to cover complementary feeding and consultation meeting held by TRANSFORM
maternal nutrition. Nutrition West Africa to help identify priorities for
MIYCN policies and programs and directions for
Over 70 participants attended the dissemination future research.
event, including the Director of Nutrition at the
Ministry of Health, the Governor of Boucle du Ethiopia
Mouhoun region, district health staff, partners,
religious leaders, and the Gates Foundation. A&T ~  A new project with Irish Aid launches in the
and LSHTM also shared the impact evaluation on a Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples'
local radio broadcast in Dédougou. Region (SNNPR) and Tigray Region. Under this
new grant, A&T aims to create an enabling
On the Horizon
environment to effectively deliver a package of
Burkina Faso is finalizing Letters of
Collaboration with SE LEVER, a project nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive
aimed at improving nutrition through
women’s economic empowerment and interventions in support of Irish Aid’s agriculture
poultry production activities, and with
UNICEF. A&T will work with SE LEVER to and livelihood implementing partners.
support municipal authorities in prioritizing
dietary diversity and will help produce a The project launch events were attended by
radio segment on nutrition and poultry
production. approximately 150 participants including

A&T will support UNICEF in strengthening representatives from the National Nutrition
the Ministry of Health’s systems for routine
infant and young child feeding (IYCF) data Program’s signatory sector offices (e.g.,
collection and reinforce strategic data use
at different health system levels. agriculture, education, women and child affairs);

Irish Aid’s Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA)

projects; A&T’s implementing partners (MuMs for

MUMs and SEPDA); and regional and woreda

bureaus of agriculture, livestock, and health. A&T

also presented findings from its situational

analysis on the status of nutrition activities among

Irish Aid’s agriculture and livelihood partners. A&T

will use these findings to develop an action plan

for incorporating agriculture practices that are

more nutrition-sensitive. 2

~ A&T adapts and pre-tests materials to support Programs in Action
interpersonal communication (IPC) activities in
project areas funded by Irish Aid. A&T translated A&T conducted a training to build the
its child nutrition card and IYCF job aid into capacity of nutrition and health officials on
Tigrigna (language of the Tigray Region). The card the importance of the first 1000 days, and
will be distributed by health workers to pregnant how to strengthen MIYCN services in their
women and mothers of young children. The child communities through IPC. Over 35
nutrition card is designed for limited literacy participants attended, including
audiences and to promote seven key feeding government nutrition officers from the
actions. The card will be revised based on findings Tigray Region and SNNPR and A&T
of the pre-testing. implementing partners. Participants will
cascade this training to frontline workers in
~ Review meeting of MIYCN lessons learned held their communities in March 2018.
with church clergy. A&T has been engaged with
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) to develop Nigeria
sermons that address misperceptions around child
feeding during fasting periods. A&T helped the EOC ~ High-level traditional rulers in Kaduna State
organize a meeting in the Amhara Region to share offer support for A&T initiative. His Royal
and review lessons learned with 45 participants Highness the Emir of Zazzau, the Chairman of
from regional and parish levels churches. Kaduna State Council of Chiefs, and the
Paramount Traditional Ruler of Chikun and other
One important learning was that the clergy high-level leaders are part of a committee that
structure is effective in supplementing the works closely with the Kaduna State Health
messages of frontline workers on maternal and Education Officer to promote and strengthen
child nutrition during fasting. Participants access and utilization of maternal, newborn,
developed a list of priority activities for the next and child health (MNCH services) at the
quarter, such as incorporating sermons around community level.
MIYCN during fasting into their theology
curriculum. A&T will work with the committee to develop a
community engagement strategy for
EOC clergy at the review meeting. Photo credit: Alive & Thrive traditional leaders to be more involved in
supporting mothers in early initiation and
continuation of exclusive breastfeeding, as
well as guiding mothers in feeding infants and
young children diverse and nutrient-dense
foods.

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~ A&T advocates for IYCF promotion in private Dr. Bello Abdulkadir, the Saleken Zazzau, the District of Waje
health facilities of Lagos state. At the Association and the Chairman of Traditional Leaders Committee on
of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Health Matters in Kaduna State, endorsing A&T project in the
Nigeria (AGPMPN) annual meeting, A&T helped the state. Photo credit: Alive & Thrive
association incorporate issues around IYCF into
their policies and strategic plan. A&T also
advocated for AGPMPN to include stronger BMS
Code implementation in private health facilities
into its Health Development Policy Guidelines, and
urged AGPMPN to develop key IYCF indicators to
measure outcomes from the policy document.
Following the meeting, AGPMPN committed to
promoting early initiation and exclusive
breastfeeding in member private health facilities in
10 local government areas of Lagos.

On the Horizon ASEAN

A joint effort between A&T, the Federal ~  A&T joins SUN civil society alliance (SUN-CSA)
Ministry of Health (FMOH), and UNICEF steering committee in Myanmar and supports
guided the launch of a social behavior national nutrition activities. The steering
change communication (SBCC) technical committee will meet monthly and is expected to
working group. The group will coordinate provide guidance and technical support to the SUN
and provide technical guidance on the CSA Secretariat and General Assembly. A&T also
streamlined implementation of IYCF SBCC participated in the launch of the Becoming
activities. Over 95 participants attended the Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) initiative in Myanmar,
launch event, which was facilitated by the an evidence-based framework for the country to
Family Health Department Director, Dr. assess its readiness to scale up breastfeeding
Adebimpe Adebiyi, on behalf of the Minister promotion and support. BBF is led by SUN CSA in
of Health. partnership with the National Nutrition Center and
Yale University.

~  Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) officially launched
in Viet Nam. Roger Mathisen, Regional Director of
A&T in Southeast Asia, signed a commitment
document pledging to work together to improve
health and nutrition for the people of Viet Nam. The
event was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister,
Vu Duc Dam and the Assistant United Nations
Secretary General and Coordinator of the SUN
Movement, Gerda Verburg.

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~  Ongoing technical assistance activities in the Representatives of Vietnamese government and international
Philippines includes qualitative data analysis organizations showing their commitment to improve the health
training. The training focused on building local and nutrition of the people of Viet Nam. Photo credit: The
capacity for maternal, infant, and young child National Institute of Nutrition
nutrition (MIYCN) formative data analysis, and
ensuring high-quality research and results
dissemination. Participants included the National
Nutrition Council and the research team from the
University of the Philippines Los Baños. The
formative research efforts underway will inform
the Behavior Change Communication component
of the National Plan of Action on Nutrition
2017-2022 and the IYCF Action Plan (2018-2030) of
the Philippines. Preliminary results are expected
by the end of May.

On the Horizon Bangladesh

A&T signed Terms of Reference with ~  Maternal nutrition advocacy efforts guide
UNICEF, the World Bank, and the updating of the National Communications
Millennium Challenge Account of Indonesia, Framework and Plan. A&T is advising the National
solidifying efforts for developing an SBCC Nutrition Service (NNS) on maternal nutrition
roadmap for stunting reduction in the content for the updated National Communication
country. A&T will compile data from Framework and Plan. This new plan aims to help
previous research and programs—such as achieve the objectives of the fourth national
the impact of communication campaigns Health, Population, and Nutrition Sector Program
and types of communications products (2018-2022). The plan will identify key maternal
produced—to identify lessons learned and nutrition behaviors and actions for government
current knowledge gaps. and partners to address with IPC and mass media.

The findings of this review will provide In coordination with UNICEF, A&T also expanded
informed and action-oriented the focus of the IYCF Alliance to include maternal
recommendations for the Government of nutrition in its Terms of Reference, previously
Indonesia to develop a national SBCC limited to infant and young child feeding. The IYCF
strategy for stunting reduction. Alliance is led by the Institute of Public Health
Nutrition and is an important platform for nutrition
stakeholders to share and align activities with the
Government’s NNS Operational Plan (2017 – 2022).

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~  National Nutrition Service SBCC e-Toolkits India
feature A&T materials. A&T and partners assisted
the NNS/IPNH in consolidating nutrition-related ~  Capacity-building training for master trainers
SBCC materials into two e-Toolkits, available held in partnership with the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila
through the Directorate General of Health Services’ Vikas Pariyojna (RGMVP). A&T is engaged in
activities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to empower women
website. The e-Toolkits are intended for frontline to improve health and nutrition indicators through
SBC interventions implemented in the community.
workers and program managers to encourage and The training, attended by 100 participants, focused
on the importance of the first 1000 days, maternal
facilitate the use of harmonized, government- nutrition, early initiation of breastfeeding, and the
role of family members in ensuring adoption of
approved materials for conducting SBCC activities optimal nutrition practices. RGMVP master trainers
will build the capacity of over 200 block level
in Bangladesh. trainers in 41 districts of UP, who will then train up
to 10,000 village level workers.

Training RGVMP staff on maternal nutrition in UP. New Materials
Photo credit: Alive & Thrive
A series of observation checklists were
~  A&T expands engagement with medical created for monitoring the counseling skills
colleges and hosts stakeholder workshop.  A&T of frontline workers, as well as a standard
recently signed a Letter of Collaboration (LoC) with operating procedure for conducting
the Anugraha Narayan Magadh Medical College & community-based events and using SBC
Hospital in Bihar. Under this LoC, A&T will support materials for maternal nutrition and
efforts to enhance instructional methods for breastfeeding.
teaching MIYCN and improve coverage of evidence-
based MIYCN interventions. The monitoring checklists will be used by
RGVMP block level cadre and nutrition
A&T also hosted multi-stakeholder workshops in UP workers, and the SBC materials by the
and Bihar to disseminate findings from its baseline Anganwadi (frontline) workers. This support
study on the status of MIYCN integration in is part of A&T's ongoing technical assistance
teaching-learning processes, service delivery, and to the UP-Technical Support Unit (TSU) to
research activities, and from its visioning exercise conduct a study on the feasibility of using
on perspectives around strengthening MIYCN in an integrated SBC approach to improve
school operations. Participants discussed a road complementary feeding behaviors using the
map for enhancing the role of medical colleges and Integrated Child Development Scheme
hospitals in supporting national health programs to (ICDS) platform.
improve MIYCN outcomes.
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