Building agency of the youth to make responsible choices
Summary:
Increasing voluntary use of contraception is key to improving reproductive, maternal and child health outcomes (SDG 3). Working with youth population requires not only using new media to engage them gainfully, but also contemporizing the content for a segment whose lifestyles, priorities and information needs are vastly different from the preceding generation. We applied proven AIDA model from advertising along with a 360 degree communication approach to create a surround sound effect that enables our audience to make responsible choices by bringing reproductive health information, counselling, and products to their fingertips. The USAID-funded Sustaining Health Outcomes Through the Private Sector-Plus (SHOPS) Plus project in India is using digital media, workplace interventions, chatbot, toll-free counseling helpline, virtual reality games, and inter-personal activities on the ground to augment a mass media campaign targeting youth. The projects campaign using traditional media reached over 43 million people, its targeted digital campaign over 4 million people. The extended Facebook campaign has cumulatively reached 2.45 million people garnering more than 16,000 page followers. A radio drama series developed in partnership with MTV is engaging young people with relevant and accurate sexual health information. Nontraditional activities using infotainment and interactive tools are used to disseminate family planning information and promote the counseling helpline. Private sector partners support activities focused on health service providers and pharmacists. The campaign received support from the Indian governments ministry of health and family welfare, and leading private sector players for amplification and sustainability beyond life of project.
Background/Objectives:
In this session we will showcase the variety of innovative media approaches and tools we have used to engage Indias youth on family planning methods and what we are learning about the effectiveness of these tools. We will share lessons learnt on applying these tools, and how they resonate with the public and private sector partners who are interested to amplify and scale up these activities in the future.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The SHOPS Plus project uses the following methods to educate the youth population in India on contraception and increase the use of family planning goods and services: mass media (TV and radio); digital media (Facebook pages and Facebook live events, You Tube videos, TikTok videos, chatbot), a family planning counseling helpline, face-to-face information sessions at the workplace, posters, and inter-personal activities on the ground are strategically located in gyms, colleges, beauty parlors, and at health provider clinics. Our traditional and digital media campaigns create awareness on family planning methods and help dispel myths and misconceptions. This is complemented by interventions in workplaces and on the ground. A one-on-one chatbot and helpline make conversations private; Facebook Live sessions bring in experts to answer questions and moderate group conversations, and workplace intervention smartphone apps allow family planning information to be more accessible and personalized to individual needs.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Formative research identified prevalent social norms, negative attitudes towards contraception, and myths and misperceptions around contraceptive methods as the key barriers to adoption of modern contraceptives among youth. The majority of the target group did not identify with traditional family planning campaigns, turning to peers and the internet for information on sexual and reproductive health matters. Using multiple media channels allowed the project to address a range of issues from social normative beliefs to the specific information needs of an individual. Strategically planned interventions allowed the project to connect with the target audience through multiple touchpoints with each intervention moving the prospective users from awareness through interest and desire towards action. A quarter of those counselled through the helpline reported adopting a contraceptive method within a month. A similar percent of those exposed to the mass media campaign reported discussing or intending to discuss contraceptives with their partners.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
Understanding how youth segments consume and engage with new age media is critical to the success of youth targeted SBCC programs. This becomes even more important when the topic of conversations is sexual and reproductive health a topic that is considered taboo in some cultures and can face limitations in terms of information dissemination through mass and traditional media alone. Organizations working on such topics with youth segments need to allocate adequate resources for researching media consumption habits of their target audience and use digital media as relevant to supplement traditional media components using 360 degree approach to communication.
Abstract submitted by:
Ankit Vohra - Abt India
Andy Bhanot - Abt India
Shipra Srihari - Abt Associates
Moni Sagar - USAID
Vijay Paulraj - USAID
Increasing voluntary use of contraception is key to improving reproductive, maternal and child health outcomes (SDG 3). Working with youth population requires not only using new media to engage them gainfully, but also contemporizing the content for a segment whose lifestyles, priorities and information needs are vastly different from the preceding generation. We applied proven AIDA model from advertising along with a 360 degree communication approach to create a surround sound effect that enables our audience to make responsible choices by bringing reproductive health information, counselling, and products to their fingertips. The USAID-funded Sustaining Health Outcomes Through the Private Sector-Plus (SHOPS) Plus project in India is using digital media, workplace interventions, chatbot, toll-free counseling helpline, virtual reality games, and inter-personal activities on the ground to augment a mass media campaign targeting youth. The projects campaign using traditional media reached over 43 million people, its targeted digital campaign over 4 million people. The extended Facebook campaign has cumulatively reached 2.45 million people garnering more than 16,000 page followers. A radio drama series developed in partnership with MTV is engaging young people with relevant and accurate sexual health information. Nontraditional activities using infotainment and interactive tools are used to disseminate family planning information and promote the counseling helpline. Private sector partners support activities focused on health service providers and pharmacists. The campaign received support from the Indian governments ministry of health and family welfare, and leading private sector players for amplification and sustainability beyond life of project.
Background/Objectives:
In this session we will showcase the variety of innovative media approaches and tools we have used to engage Indias youth on family planning methods and what we are learning about the effectiveness of these tools. We will share lessons learnt on applying these tools, and how they resonate with the public and private sector partners who are interested to amplify and scale up these activities in the future.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The SHOPS Plus project uses the following methods to educate the youth population in India on contraception and increase the use of family planning goods and services: mass media (TV and radio); digital media (Facebook pages and Facebook live events, You Tube videos, TikTok videos, chatbot), a family planning counseling helpline, face-to-face information sessions at the workplace, posters, and inter-personal activities on the ground are strategically located in gyms, colleges, beauty parlors, and at health provider clinics. Our traditional and digital media campaigns create awareness on family planning methods and help dispel myths and misconceptions. This is complemented by interventions in workplaces and on the ground. A one-on-one chatbot and helpline make conversations private; Facebook Live sessions bring in experts to answer questions and moderate group conversations, and workplace intervention smartphone apps allow family planning information to be more accessible and personalized to individual needs.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Formative research identified prevalent social norms, negative attitudes towards contraception, and myths and misperceptions around contraceptive methods as the key barriers to adoption of modern contraceptives among youth. The majority of the target group did not identify with traditional family planning campaigns, turning to peers and the internet for information on sexual and reproductive health matters. Using multiple media channels allowed the project to address a range of issues from social normative beliefs to the specific information needs of an individual. Strategically planned interventions allowed the project to connect with the target audience through multiple touchpoints with each intervention moving the prospective users from awareness through interest and desire towards action. A quarter of those counselled through the helpline reported adopting a contraceptive method within a month. A similar percent of those exposed to the mass media campaign reported discussing or intending to discuss contraceptives with their partners.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
Understanding how youth segments consume and engage with new age media is critical to the success of youth targeted SBCC programs. This becomes even more important when the topic of conversations is sexual and reproductive health a topic that is considered taboo in some cultures and can face limitations in terms of information dissemination through mass and traditional media alone. Organizations working on such topics with youth segments need to allocate adequate resources for researching media consumption habits of their target audience and use digital media as relevant to supplement traditional media components using 360 degree approach to communication.
Abstract submitted by:
Ankit Vohra - Abt India
Andy Bhanot - Abt India
Shipra Srihari - Abt Associates
Moni Sagar - USAID
Vijay Paulraj - USAID
Source
Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: SHOPS Plus