Overview
In Africa's most populous country, the Ku Saurara! project, funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, educated and empowered a generation of young people to improve their reproductive health through innovative mass media, community mobilization, and network strengthening. Reaching over 1 million, the Ku Saurara! radio variety show, feature fils and community activities fueled demand for youth health services. The project expanded its outreach to include trainings for service providers in interpersonal communication and counseling to ensure friendly and professional health services for young people.
Accomplishments
- Ku Saurara! has had significant impact on reproductive health behaviors, including: increasing couple communication about FP by 33 percentage points; increasing belief in one’s ability to use contraceptives by 20 percentage points; and increasing family planning use among married youth (data from 2006 and 2007 surveys).
- Successfully used entertainment-education approaches to reach young married Muslim women in Northern Nigeria with sensitive reproductive health information in a culturally appropriate and effective way; products included the video drama Akwai Mafita (There is a Way Out) that highlights the pressures that young people face, and Burina (My Dream), a drama about a young married couple and their quest for a happy and health family.
- Produced 39-episode magazine-format radio program addressing: adolescent physical and mental health, maternal health, birth spacing and post abortion care and a 13-episode radio drama focusing on positive spousal communication and access to FP services.
- Complemented Packard Partners' demand-generation interventions with quality improvement initiatives, including training health facility staff (clinicians and support staff) in client-friendly approaches and interpersonal communication and counseling.
- Established advocacy networks in 5 states that focus on adolescent reproductive and maternal health issues.
- Harmonized messages and materials among partners for communication messages and materials such as posters, brochures, and job aids.
- The Advocacy Networks' efforts contribute to: the building of a MCH clinic in Batagarawa, Jiibiya local government, Katsina state; increased state government budgets on health in Bauchi and Kaduna states; and increased and continuous funding of free maternal health services in Kano state.
- As a result of our IPC/C trainings, there was a significant improvement in the level of satisfaction with services among clients who were attended to by the trained providers with 90-95% of clients considering themselves very satisfied after visiting the clinics. Also, all providers trained showed marked improvements in knowledge based on a pre- and post- evaluation of the trainings.
