Care Groups Forward Interest Group

Meeting May 5, 2016

1

Welcome! Co-Facilitators: Mary DeCoster and

Cindy Pfitzenmaier Goodall Introductions: • Name, organization, position • What have you been working on related to Care Groups lately?

Agenda • Sibida and Augustus from IMC will present on Men Are

Partners, SNAP program, Sierra Leone * • Bonnie Kittle, consultant, will lead an activity on

promoting behavior change with fathers and husbands • Mary DeCoster will share about a soon to be available

new tool: Care Groups Essentials: A Reference Guide for Practitioners

• Updates and Announcements?

*The SNAP program is a USAID-funded Multi-Year Assistance Food Security Program in Sierra Leone led by ACDI/VOCA with sub-recipients International Medical Corps and Opportunities Industrialization Center International.

MEN ARE PARTNERS (MAPs) IN

SUSTAINABLE NUTRITION AND AGRICULTURE PROMOTION (SNAP) PROGRAM IN SIERRA LEONE

Presented by: Sibida George, SO1 Team Leader Augustus Davies, MAPs Program Manager

SNAP Program Goal

Reduce food insecurity and increase resiliency among vulnerable rural populations in target districts

SO1 Reduce chronic

malnutrition among children under two years

SO2 Enhance

livelihoods for vulnerable

people especially

women and youth

SO1/SO2 Integration

SNAP operates in Bombali, Koinadugu, Kailahun, and Tonkolili Districts - (18 Chiefdoms)

SNAP Operational Areas

MAPs OBJECTIVES • Complement the efforts of Lead Mother’s in

the SBCC initiatives to scale up community health and nutrition efforts and improve on sexual reproductive health in their communities.

• Formalize the role of men with a defined curriculum in the care group approach used in the SNAP program.

MAPs STRUCTURE

DISTRICT LEAD FATHER CARE GROUPS

NUMBER OF LEAD FATHERS

FATHER CARE UNIT MEMBERS

BOMBALI 22 110 1650

KAILAHUN 23 115 1725

KOINADUGU 45 225 3375

TONKOLILI 33 165 2475

TOTAL 123 615 9225

DS Father care unit

DS

MAPs APPROACH Formal curriculum/Four modules 1. Early Initiation of BF within 1 hour after

delivery and Exclusive breastfeeding 0-6 months.

2. Complementary Feeding. 3. Essential Hygiene actions 4. Family Planning

KEY BEHAVIORS (What men can do)

• Husbands tell the clinic staff that he wants his baby to be put to the breast within an hour of delivery and that nothing else should be given to the infant.

• Husbands ensure that their wives go to the clinic within the first three days after delivery, and within 6 – 8 weeks of delivery to get Vitamin A capsules.

Husband accompanying wife to PHU for delivery

Husband carrying baby as they go to a periodic market

KEY BEHAVIORS (What men can do)

• Husband tell his family members that he wants his wife to take time off from chores so she can breast feed.

• Fathers ensure food ingredients (rice powder/corn flour/fish powder/sesame powder, beans powder, fruits etc.) are available for complementary feeding of the baby.

• Fathers help prepare complementary food and feed the baby.

Husband playing with baby as wife washes clothes

KEY BEHAVIORS (What men can do)

• Fathers construct hand washing station and make sure it is always functional and should ensure hand washing every time.

• Husbands use modern contraceptive methods to space birth for a minimum of three years period.

• Husbands remind their wives to attend at least four ANC visits during pregnancy.

Husband carrying baby as wife washes her hands using tippy tap in the HH.

MAPs ACTIVITIES • Training of lead father care group

sessions on modules (Biweekly) • Father care group sessions (once a

month) • Joint Lead father and Lead mother

sessions (Monthly) • Household visits ( Bi weekly)

Lead Father meeting with District Supervisor

Joint Lead Father and Lead Mother meeting

MAPs ACTIVITIES cont… • Community awareness raising :

(mosques, churches, community radios, market days, traditional naming and wedding ceremonies).

• Lead Father’s follow-up visit at the Primary Health Units

• Family planning and counseling visits

MAPs M&E TOOL & PROCESSES

• Lead father outreach data collection tool (pictorial and user friendly) • Lead Fathers collect data on a bi-weekly basis and submit to the District Supervisor at the end of the month.

• LF DS District M&E National M&E

MAPs PROCESS INDICATORS Number of husbands: • accompanying their wives for delivery at the PHUs • Households visited with pregnant women. • accompanying their wives after delivery. • accompanying their wives to PHU for family planning

counseling. • accompanying their wives for ANC. • observed doing household chores whilst the wife breastfeeds. • observed that are engaged in the preparation of

complementary feeding and observed feeding child. • households with complete tippy-taps (tippy tap, water, soap

etc)

LESSONS LEARNT

• Men’s formal involvement in SNAP SBCC has contributed in expanding the targets and thus coverage of SNAP intervention.

• Men are key stakeholders in the improvement of health and nutrition status of women and children and therefore must be included in the program design and implementation for increased impact.

.

NEXT STEPS POST SNAP

• Certification of all LFs for completion of modules and engaging in LFs activities

• Handover list of LFs to the Directorate of Food and Nutrition /MOHs for inclusion in the national mother support group initiative. Trained LFs in these location will serve as volunteers in promoting health and nutrition efforts. MOHs working on the national policy for community volunteers.

FOR YOUR

AT

THANK YOU ALL!

New draft tool! Coming soon! Care Group Essentials: A Reference Guide for Practitioners

• This guide is meant to serve as a companion to the Care Group Training Manual;

• This guide may also be useful for program evaluators, as a means to assess the extent to which Care Groups were implemented in accordance with the evidence-based model; and their potential contribution to program outcomes.

• About 20 pages long

Sample from the reference guide The Care Group Volunteer job description includes the following responsibilities:

Meets with her neighbor women at least once per month to promote behavior change

Visits each neighbor woman at home once per month (according to the need and the relevance of the behavior) to negotiate behavior change

Monitors and reports vital events that have occurred in the community, such as births, deaths and severe illness

Mobilizes neighbor women to participate in community activities that will benefit their families, such as immunization campaigns, food distribution or latrine construction

Attends Care Group meetings facilitated by the Promoter and reports the number of neighbor women she reached

Reports problems that cannot be solved at the household level to local leadership, and request support and collaboration from the Promoter

Models the health, nutrition and sanitation behaviors she teaches neighbor women

Updates & Announcements • CORE Group Spring Meeting in

Portland, May 16 pre-conference ½ day session -- Social and Behavior Change Approaches during the Transition from Relief to Development: Workshop, Bonnie Kittle

• We now have an actual listserv: caregroupsforward@lists.foodsecuritynetwork.org

THANK YOU! Thanks for your participation in Care Groups Forward!

Please let us know if you have suggestions for future presentations for Care Groups Forward

The TOPS Program was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace. The contents of this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.