Establish and Strengthen State SBCC Committee

Hold an initial meeting(s) with the stakeholders beginning with the State DG lead and then the chief executive and key stakeholders to get their buy-in for the establishment of the Committee.

It is important to envision the DG focal person on the need for an expanded Committee before engaging other key stakeholders as the DG focal person is expected to push and drive the process. In some States, the process began with having an expanded DG team at the State level.

For example,  with TCI support in Bauchi and Ogun states, the need to have other team members at the state level was discussed with the State DG lead and the Executive Chairman/Secretary (EC/ES) of the Primary Health Care Development Board who then nominated staff members from the FP, health education and the information unit, to work with the state team lead in demand generation. This initial engagement with the two States necessitated the development of a guideline for the composition of the Committee. This helped to identify ministries, agencies and organizations that members are to be drawn from. This was used in the expansion of the Committee in the two States as well as for the other eight States.

After team members have been identified, it is imperative for the newly formed team to meet. This debriefing meeting will aim at intimating the members of the Initiative, the significance of demand generation as well as the roles they are expected to play which will contribute to program objectives.

For instance, TCI in Ogun state supported a debriefing meeting, which was held with the newly established team in the office of the ES on September 27, 2017 at the Health Education Unit office of OGPHCDB. The State DG team initially started with 5 members but was expanded to 8 members including: 2 Reproductive Health Experts, 2 Health Educators, 2 Information Officers and 2 Staff of the Ministry of Women Affairs.

It is important to work with the State to realize the need to inaugurate an SBCC committee as a means of ensuring that a mechanism is in place to coordinate and support DG activities in the State. It should be conceived as a means of enshrining sustainability hence the composition of members being representatives of relevant government ministries and parastatals. This is achieved by identifying capacity gaps which will be incorporated in the capacity building plan.

During this planning, the State DG Lead drives the process of engaging with the leadership of the State Ministry of Health/PHCDA to select a suitable date and venue for the inauguration, drafting and dispatching letters of invitation to the prospective Committee members.

In Ogun state, the DG team went ahead to identify capacity gaps that will be addressed in the planned SBCC capacity building workshop.

At this point, the SBCC inauguration and first capacity building activities will begin. The initial capacity strengthening activities include:

1. Introduction to SBCC through oral presentations, interactive plenary sessions, and quality time for question and answers
2. Exposure to TCI-U and other implementing partners developed SBCC materials
3. Development of a workplan, including leveraging indigenous festivals and events for SBCC activities
4. Creation of a community of practice (CoP) platform to ensure continuity of interaction and experience sharing

During the training, the Committee develops a workplan as part of its core mandate of implementing DG activities. In developing the workplan, the Committee majorly leverages on existing indigenous events/festivals, national/international days and other State events where SBCC activities to promote FP will be conducted. This strategic approach is to ensure sustainability of these activities. At the end of the training, a WhatsApp platform was created by the Committee for the purpose of information dissemination, knowledge and experience sharing. In Ogun, the members set up 2 WhatsApp groups. One for the Committee members themselves and another for all participants in the workshop to for experience sharing, information dissemination and knowledge building.

The frequency of meeting is subject to the decision of the State and ranges from once a month to once every two months to once a quarter. However, the least expected number of times is once a quarter.

During the meeting, activities already conducted are reviewed while plans are also firmed up for upcoming activities.

TCI provides TA in the following areas, depending on the needs of a particular State and its SBCC Committee members:

• SBCC strategy development
• Messaging and materials development
• Social mobilization training
• Orientation for local drama groups