Journey to a Bright Future: Engaging with Communities for Happy and Healthy Families - Facilitator Manual

This facilitator manual is part of a set of materials developed for use under the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) Sierra Leone project, which seeks to create demand for improved reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) services, as well as increase healthy practices at home and in communities in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak. It is intended for use during the training of community mobilisers and community champions to carry out community discussion sessions focusing on various aspects of RMNCH. The community discussions complement other HC3/Sierra Leone activities, which include print and radio campaigns, and national level capacity strengthening in social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) (see Related Summary below).

The manual is designed to support HC3’s participatory community engagement approach that seeks to inspire individuals to practice optimal RMNCH behaviours, including care-seeking at health facilities. Using identified aspirations, emotional responses and champions as agents of change, community members identify barriers to health and doable actions, and find solutions that lead to improved health. Each module looks at a different aspect of RMNCH and contains an ice-breaker, several sets of discussions and activities, and then a wrap-up pledge. As explained in the manual, by the end of the series of discussions using this manual, participants will:

• Be motivated to act in ways that help them, their families, and their communities to become and remain healthy.
• Have a positive attitude about using preventative and curative health services at the health facility, and feel greater ownership of health services.
• Take steps to improve their home and health facility environment and behaviours, with a special focus on RMNCH.

The Manual contains the following modules:

Module 1: Our Future, Our Community, Our Health Centre
Module 2: Working with Our Family and Community
Module 3: Maternal Health
Module 4:Family Planning
Module 5: Newborn and Child Health
Module 6: Malaria Cause and Prevention
Module 7: Pneumonia, Diarrhoea, and Handwashing with Soap
Module 8: Malaria Treatment and Malaria in Pregnancy
Module 9:Looking at Our Progress toward Our Vision of the Future