TCI’s Nigeria Team Wins Curve Award for Innovative Use of the RAISE Tool for Responsive Feedback

Contributor: Nneoma Anieto

The Challenge Initiative’s (TCI’s) team in Nigeria has won a 2021 Curve Award, a new award designed to showcase use of responsive feedback by organizations based in Nigeria.

TCI won for its abstract titled “Use of TCI’s innovative Reflection and Action to Improve Self-reliance and Effectiveness (RAISE) Tool to improve Government’s Responsiveness to Family Planning Interventions in Nigeria.” The abstract described TCI’s innovative RAISE tool, its value for improving a local government’s response to their family planning needs, and the results from applying the tool in 14 states across Nigeria.

TCI was one of four finalists selected to develop and present their abstracts to a panel of six Judges selected by The Curve. The Judges panel consisted of representatives from Unilever, Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health, Results for Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aliko Dangote Foundation, and the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board. The award ceremony was held virtually with almost 500 participants, who helped select the winners by voting through an online poll. Following the presentations, online votes and deliberation by the Judges, TCI tied with Society for Family Health to win the honor. TCI’s winning abstract demonstrated state government inclusion through the RAISE tool to propel the government towards self-reliance using innovative responsive feedback mechanisms.

As one of the winners, TCI’s team in Nigeria – which is led by Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs – will have the opportunity to develop a paper that will be featured in a Special Journal Edition of Global Health: Science and Practice Journal.

The Curve recognition for the team’s use of the RAISE tool is rewarding and bodes well for sustainability and scale of the tool. The RAISE tool has proven relevant to state governments for self-evaluation, progress planning, and even commitment of funds and release. This valuable tool can be scaled to more Nigerian states and can be used by other programs. Winning The Curve awards presents TCI with the opportunity to share the tool with a wider audience in Nigeria for scale up to other geographies and projects. The recognition also reaffirms TCI’s commitment to responsive feedback and devising new ways to drive responsive feedback among state government personnel which is key to sustaining interventions in states.

The Curve is a global community of practice striving to help development programs get better faster through Responsive Feedback. The Curve is led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and M&C Saatchi World Services, and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Responsive Feedback helps to fill evidence gaps throughout a program’s life cycle, ensuring practitioners can use data to make better decisions. The Curve’s objective is to democratize Responsive Feedback: supporting colleagues in the development sector to become skilled Responsive Feedback practitioners and integrate the Responsive Feedback approach into their programs and proposals.