Communication for Change (C-Change) is a cross-bureau mechanism designed to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of communication in social and behavior change interventions across a range of program areas: health, environment, economic growth and poverty alleviation, democracy and governance, social transition, and education. C-Change is a partnership led by the Academy for Educational Development (AED). It works with global, regional and local partners to support more effective use of communication as a catalyst for changing behaviors and social norms. In Nigeria, C-Change's partners include Internews, Ohio University, Straight Talk Foundation and the Consortium for Social Change Communication. In Africa, the C-Change partnership currently supports country efforts in Swaziland, Kenya, Namibia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The goal of C-Change's support in Nigeria is to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of country-driven communication for social and behavior change for HIV prevention. Key elements of C-Change's strategy include:

? reliance on research for determining intervention focus, design and effectiveness

? focus on social contexts as important determinants of individual behaviors

? mobilizing communities to facilitate changes in group norms and individual behavior

? streamlining communication tools and methodologies for rapid results

? engaging a range of mass media to catalyze change

? building systems to harmonize communication efforts across multiple response agencies

? working with existing structures to facilitate indigenous ownership and sustainability for long term change

C-Change works through NACA's BCC Technical Working Group and two SACAs in Cross River and Kogi states to facilitate operationalization of a common framework for BCC programming aligned to the newly adopted National BCC Strategy. C-Change assesses current SBCC effort in country through detailed capacity assessments of USG-supported Implementing Partners (IPs) and other NGOs and CBOs in the two states within the South South (SS) and North Central (NC) regions targeted. Through Internews, C-Change will also assess the capacity of print and broadcast media to provide meaningful support to HIV prevention goals.

Together, the C-Change partnership will provide training, mentoring and technical assistance to address the gaps identified by these assessments and support alignment of response agencies' programs with the national prevention priorities and BCC Strategy. Internews works with journalists, media personalities and gatekeepers to improve and expand coverage, scale and intensity of HIV prevention. All training will integrate activities for building competencies in gender analysis and gender equity promotion, essential elements mainstreamed in the C-Change approach. C-Change will work with the national BCC TWG and the two SACAs to facilitate leadership and coordination of SBCC for improved HIV prevention. It will strengthen systems and processes for coordination at national level and within two states of Cross River in the SS region and Kogi in the NC. These states were chosen based on:

? HIV prevalence

? USG IP presence

? concentration of nascent community response organizations

? potential for improved performance in print and broadcast media

? ease of access to state from C-Change's central operations in Abuja

? cost of access to states

? disposition of NACA and SACAs

? safety &security

? consultations with key stakeholders

Support for strengthening SBCC capacity will focus on USG implementing partners, national NGOs and CBOs, health workers, journalists and media gatekeepers in Cross River (SS) and Kogi (NC). C-Change will seek to create structures for sustaining improved SBCC performance in those states selected and at national level. These include the introduction of training courses, basic tools and linkages between established expertise and new efforts in the field. Ohio University (OU), a global C-Change partner, will support introduction of a facilitator-assisted, on-line, certificate course in SBCC. At the state level, OU will attempt to work with cognate departments within the state university or polytechnic to develop and offer courses for social and behavior change communication. Each of these activities paves the way for sustained capacity building in social and behavior communication for HIV prevention.

Finally, C-Change will support a multi-channeled mass media campaign aimed at reducing HIV risk behaviors among Nigeria's youth. C-Change, will implement campaigns, linking communication efforts at state level with community based-responses and national campaigns already underway. Internews (IN) will work with print and broadcast journalists; media personalities; and gatekeepers within media houses in these same states to improve the quality and scope of media support for HIV prevention, shaping the environment, strengthening constituencies for action and eroding barriers to change. Internews will also work with USG IPs, and NGOs/CBOs to expand partnerships with mass media for more effective HIV prevention.

C-Change Objectives in the Federal Capital Teritory (FCT), Crosss River and Kogi States seeks to achieve improved effectiveness and sustainability of country-driven communication for social and behavior change efforts through the following objectives:

Objective 1

To enhance coordination of social and behavior change communication efforts so that SBCC interventions are aligned to the priorities for prevention outlined in the National HIV and AIDS Prevention Plan 2007-2009 and the National BCC Strategy 2009-2014.

Objective 2

To improve technical capacity of USG partners, NGOs/CBOs and health workers to design and implement evidence-based, community-informed SBCC so that prevention interventions engage in the program development processes and work towards the prevention priorities outlined in the National BCC Strategy.

Objective 3

To expand utilization of mass media channels by SBCC implementing agencies and improve mass media's support of HIV prevention priorities outlined in the National BCC Strategy and Prevention Plan.

The Project's M&E approach is grounded in the principles of responsiveness, state-of-the-art approaches, and connection to programs and decision-making. The main tenet of this approach is capacity development of implementing partners in M&E for BCC programming. Our approach is responsive to PEPFAR concerns for accurate data and regular results reporting. M&E guidelines will provide a standard format to compile, track and report and will provide discrete ways in which data will be analyzed for enhanced project management.

The M&E team will develop standardized frameworks for data collection and analysis and promulgate these through guidelines and technical materials, as well as on-the-job training and M&E training workshops for IPs, as needed. C Change will work with NACA to ensure the incorporation of essential BCC indicators into the NNRIMS. A focus on capacity-building will support the use of data for enhanced project management. Our M&E approaches will yield programmatic data in a participatory and capacity-building manner that will bear on enhanced program management, and that will broaden the base of knowledge on how to implement communication program interventions efficiently and effectively. M&E systems will be harmonized with NACA systems in support of the Three Ones.

M&E Approaches and Techniques

The M&E system will include program monitoring and HMIS data, performance monitoring measures, omnibus surveys to capture reach and recall of mass media campaigns, household surveys in specified communities to measure the result of integrated BCC approaches at the local level, case studies of the reach and effect of radio journals and interviews and qualitative inquiry data to describe the development of campus radio.

Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity Building

C-Change will take a leadership role in promoting techniques and approaches to M&E by developing frameworks for data collection and analysis that can be easily adopted by other organizations; by disseminating experiences and results; and by encouraging the adoption of general recommendations and conclusions that emerge from these approaches. To facilitate the skills development of IPs, C Change will develop M&E training courses focusing on new communication indicators for HIV and AIDS programming and harmonization of M&E approaches across implementing agencies and partners.

For purpose of innovations and knowledge transfers, C-Change will engage partners and collaborating institutions and will work with existing teams (such as NACA subcommittees on M&E, USAID Mission-led reporting initiatives, etc.), to share information about:

The process of BCC data collection

The interpretation and presentation of BCC results

New BCC indicators and the interpretation of data

Tools that can be used for streamlined data collection and results reporting

Data analysis and interpretation workshops will enable program and evaluation staff to work together to write up program results and to identify program modifications.

The 2008 national HIV/AIDS BCC response identified lack of effective coordination and technical direction in the BCC activities carried out by the USG IPs and other partners.

In COP 09, C-Change therefore focused on strengthening the National Agency for the control of AIDS (NACA) and State Agency for the control of AIDS (SACAs) capacity to effectively coordinate and with support of the national and state Technical Working Groups (TWGs) provide technical direction to the national HIV/AIDS BCC response. At the national level, C-Change worked with NACA's BCC Technical Working Group to facilitate operationalization of a common framework for BCC programming aligned to the newly adopted National BCC Strategy. At a state-wide level, C-change strengthened SACA in two states, Cross River and Kogi, in the area of effective coordination of the State BCC response through training and technical assistance to SACA personnel. This was to ensure that the state BCC response is in line with national prevention strategies; is evidence-based and community driven; and processes, outputs and outcomes are documented and shared among all stakeholders for the purpose of learning and replicating best practices. C-Change also assessed current SBCC efforts in- country through detailed capacity assessments of USG-supported implementing partners (IPs) and other NGOs and CBOs. C-Change will continue to work in COP 10, with NACA and other USIPs to develop tools for national BCC response coordination as well as streamline indicators to effectively capture outputs and outcomes from the national BCC response.

In COP 10, C-CHANGE will build capacity of IPs to implement BCC programs using strategies that respect and respond to local customs, social and community norms, programming will support delay of sexual debut; develop skills in unmarried individuals for practicing abstinence and negotiation for safe sex while transiting from abstinence; address coerced sexual activity and transactional sex; emphasize the importance of faithfulness in reducing the transmission of HIV. This will entail development of the 'Abstinence and Be faithful' messaging component of sexual prevention activities of IPs to target young people (10 -15) using mass media, print, religious and community gatherings including counseling service provision. C-Change will train 30 individuals from USIPs and NGOs'as master trainers for youth peer education. The 30 individuals will in turn train a total of 200 in school youths as peer educators/AB advocates. It is expected that the peer educators will reach out to 10,000 individuals with messages and materials that promote abstinence and be faithful and that encourage HIV counseling and testing according to the minimum package of prevention. C-Change will assist IPs in targeting community and traditional leaders and organizations by focusing on messages to be promoted during planned advocacy visits and community intervention programs. Messages will also promote linkages to other program areas including counseling testing, STI treatment and other facility based services. Messages addressing skills for personal risk assessment and delayed sexual debut will also be developed and disseminated. Working with SACA, C-Change will identify at least 10 NGOs, CBOs/FBOs, engage them and build their capacity in the area of evidence-based, theory-guided social and behavioural change communications program design and development. To complement the multi-media campaign, C-Change will develop a comprehensive interpersonal communication program through the establishment of an efficient peer education system including the training of peer educators/community HIV prevention advocates, the use of entertainment education approaches including community theater and community action dialogue meetings. At the community level, C-Change will work with NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, media houses and traditional institutions to design and implement a multi-media social and behavioral change campaign that will address individual risky sexual behaviours among youths as well as group and collective social norms that predispose young people to HIV infections.

C Change will assist IPs to address the mobilization of communities to address norms and behaviors on cross generational and transactional sex, promote increased male involvement in prevention activities and improved health seeking behaviors. Issues of stigma and discrimination will also be addressed in the intervention. C Change will adhere to recommendations made in the National Prevention Plan and National Behavior Change Communication Strategy and utilize a balanced ABC approach in its interventions. C-CHANGE will further collaborate with the media to ensure sustainability and support of NACA BCC efforts, provide TA to the BCC committee of the National Prevention TWG (NPTWG) and support BCC activities in the wider public health programming. Based on findings from assessments conducted in COP 09, C-Change will facilitate the participatory design of state-wide behaviour change strategies that will inform the multi-media campaign. These campaigns will be evidence-based and community driven, drawing from insights gained through the assessments of the previous year. Care will be taken to make sure strategies respond directly to the epidemic drivers identified during the assessments. This campaign will contain the following approaches among others:

- Multi media campaign to include radio/television programs (implemented in collaboration with media houses and advertising/media production agencies as well as development of other communication materials that would include posters and leaflets. C Change will ensure that other USG IPs are involved in the adaptation/development of the multi media approach for uniformity of messages and materials for appropriate target audience.

- Interpersonal Communications (Formation of community coalitions, training of peer educators and community advocates, training of service providers on interpersonal communications for sexual prevention of HIV transmission) in collaboration with NGOs, CBOs and FBOs. C-Change will identify CSOs involved in HIV prevention activities to work with in the two states. The capacities of these CSOs will be built through training to ensure that BCC programming is evidence-based, community driven and aligns with state/national prevention priorities.

C Change will ensure data quality and continuous quality improvement of activities by encouraging IPs program reports through the design and development of peer education activity monitoring forms which will capture the essentials of the minimum prevention package of programming, capacity building in monitoring and evaluation of communication programs for IP program staff and conduct periodic site visits to verify planned implementation as well as to provide technical assistance that will ensure continued quality data collection

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA

C-Change's contribution to the overall Abstinence and Be faithful (AB) activities will be by building technical capacities of partners to review and develop strategies for working with different target audiences including in school youths and other segments of the general population. C-Change, in building the capacity of these partners will contribute to generating demands for counseling and testing (CT) and prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services that are entry points for other HIV and AIDS services.

LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

These activities will be linked to community program development, HCT, PMTCT, Blood Safety, Injection Safety, TB HIV, treatment, care and SI.

POPULATIONS BEING TARGETED

Population targeted for this activity are young people, educational institutions and other faith based organisations including media organizations.

EMPHASIS AREAS

This activity will emphasize Behaviour Change Communication with focus on strategy and message development directed at AB programming to emphasizes local organization capacity building, human capacity development and efforts to increase gender equity in HIV/AIDS programs to ensure access to information and services. Through AB activities, major emphasis is on community mobilization and participation, as an element of outreach for prevention efforts and also reinforce information, education and communication for high-risk populations.

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