Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2010 2011

Details for Mechanism ID: 10605
Country/Region: Ethiopia
Year: 2010
Main Partner: Academy for Educational Development
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: NGO
Funding Agency: USAID
Total Funding: $850,000

Communication for Change (C-Change) will support the MOH and PEPFAR partners by bringing a mix of skills, experience, and creativity in designing and implementing high impact communication strategies. We will integrate mass media, interpersonal communication, and community engagement to empower Ethiopian families to take actions to improve PMTCT uptake and protect their families from malaria. This is a wrap-around activity with the Presidential Malaria Initiative. In addition to developing and disseminating mass communication messaging around malaria prevention, this activity has the following objectives: (1) Increase PMTCT uptake through communication campaigns that promote ANC visits by pregnant women in Amhara and Oromia; and (2) Integrate messaging on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) into PMTCT and ANC services. Improve WASH practices to prevent diarrheal disease among those infected and affected by HIV.

The program will expand PMTCT promotion activities within Amhara and move into Oromia, targeting women of reproductive age in 20 woredas. It will roll out OVC communication activities in both Amhara and Oromia with health professionals, caregivers and community leaders. And the program will integrate existing WASH materials and training into ongoing OVC and PMTCT programs with PEPFAR partners and in USAID priority regions.

C-Change will strengthen health systems by increasing ANC/PMTCT uptake and training staff in health centers on improved WASH practices and will support stigma reduction and community mobilization efforts.

C-Change is addressing four cross-cutting areas: (1) Health care workers and HEWs will be trained to provide multi-channel communication for ANC/PMTCT and WASH practices; (2) Food and nutrition is an integral part of PMTCT and WASH practices that will be communicated to pregnant women and their partners as well as health and education and community outreach workers; (3) Water is covered in all the planned WASH activities with PMTCT and OVC programs; and (4) All media for PMTCT campaigns will portray males as active, responsible partners and suggest specific beneficial actions they can undertake.

C-Change programs are designed for implementation at scale. Each year, programs have increased their reach and become more cost effective through a combination of strengthened activities, improved supervision and shorter training workshops. C-Change will continue to advocate for increased HAPCO financial support of ongoing prevention activities and leverage support from other partners. Since C-Change harmonizes messages and designs kits and materials in collaboration with networks of partners, many organizations have bought into C-Change programs and are implementing activities that employ either parts of or an entire approach.

A monitoring program is built into each C-Change activity. A baseline for PMTCT work was established in 2009 and a follow-up evaluation will be carried out in 2011. C-Change will ensure that existing WASH indicators are shared with PEPFAR PMTCT partners to monitor changes in coverage and WASH behavior practices through pre- and post- evaluations and routine monitoring.

Funding for Health Systems Strengthening (OHSS): $100,000

None

Funding for Biomedical Prevention: Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT): $750,000

For COP 2010 this activity will include activities related to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. C-Change will continue conducting a communication campaign to promote uptake of ANC and PMTCT in East Gojjam, North & South Gonder, & South Wollo but will scale-up to 10 additional woredas in Amhara and another ten in Oromia region, intending to reach all pregnant women, their partners and communities. This approach uses a mix of channels to reach target audiences based on studies showing that people receive health information better from interpersonal channels like health workers, Health Extension Workers (HEWs) or community meetings.

The cross-cutting communication strategies are: use of research to inform strategy development and programmatic design; strengthen interpersonal communication; actively engage the community; use mass media to catalyze, change, and unify programs; and strengthen capacity in communication to empower women, men and communities to recognize pregnancy-related HIV risks and to engage in appropriate action.

The malaria prevention and control campaign will continue and emphasize pregnant women, so will integrate ANC/PMTCT promotion into activities. Other additional activities include IEC materials redesigned to promote ANC visits and proper PMTCT actions; new radio spots/drama series linking successful pregnancy outcomes to proper malaria prevention and ANC/PMTCT, with interactive radio listening groups of women; HEWs, volunteers, staff from health centers, school programs and Community Mobilization Committees will promote malaria and ANC/PMTCT "essential actions"; all existing malaria prevention networks will be tapped to increase awareness of PMTCT benefits; use of referral (tracking) cards to refer women to facilities and confirm attendance.

C-Change will build capacity and support existing PEPFAR supported community services and ANC services to integrate WASH into PMTCT programs, document improved WASH behavior within PMTCT households and include WASH in PMTCT encounters. C-Change will also use a stakeholder process to implement the new WHO PMTCT guideline to create broad support for communication approaches, models and tools developed by stakeholders.

Subpartners Total: $0
CARE International: NA
Internews: NA
University of Washington: NA
Cross Cutting Budget Categories and Known Amounts Total: $300,000
Human Resources for Health $300,000
Key Issues Identified in Mechanism
Increasing gender equity in HIV/AIDS activities and services
Malaria
Safe Motherhood