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Learn how we use evidence-based behaviour change campaigns to improve and save lives in low-income countries.
Learn about how DMI brings together two different worlds: demonstrable scientific practice and creative storytelling.
Location Capacity strengthening, Nutrition
Madagascar, particularly the Southern regions of the country, is currently facing a major food security crisis and has seen high rates of malnutrition, with 40% of children in the country suffering from chronic malnutrition in 2024 (WFP, 2024). Adequate nutrition throughout the life course, including in infancy, childhood, as well as during pregnancy, is a building block for good health and resilience against disease.
Haninaja, meaning “young child food” in Malagasy, is a project working in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) as part of their Madagascar Country Strategic Plan (2024-2028), aiming to address the most pressing nutritional issues and behaviours in the country.
Madagascar
Nutrition – promoting diet diversity and positive infant and young child feeding practices
60-second radio spots in 4 Malagasy dialects
Recipe videos
Interactive radio shows
Videos of testimonies and model families
Workshops for WFP, government, and NGO partners on the development of SBC campaigns
This multi-media and capacity development campaign will take place from 2024 to 2028 in the Grand Sud region of Southern Madagascar.
Science
Haninaja will take place in four regions in Southern Madagascar: Anosy, Androy, Atsimo-Andrefana and Atsimo-Atsinanana. These regions are amongst the hardest hit by malnutrition in the country.
To help inform our SBC campaign, we conducted extensive formative research via discussion groups and interviews with key audience community members in the Southern region of Madagascar. The barriers to good nutrition are almost entirely structural: climate, drought, and the cost of living. There were, however, important gaps in knowledge as to what constitutes an “optimal diet”, for example which complementary foods are most appropriate for infants. In addition, strong gender norms influence the distribution of food within households.
Stories
From the formative research, we have been able to identify and prioritise the following messages:
These key themes will be translated into various messaging formats, including radio, as pictured here in the studio.
Saturation
This campaign is a collaboration between DMI, WFP and its partners, and will be developed through an iterative process. It will feature series of short and interactive radio programming, recipe videos, dramatised videos, and testimonies from families showing exemplary behaviours.
As part of DMI’s commitment to sustainability, Haninaja will also involve a strong capacity strengthening element. We are running workshops on communications and SBC theory for the development of evidence-based behaviour change campaigns. These will be available to staff from WFP, relevant government departments, and partnering organisations. The hope is to have this knowledge reach beyond the direct beneficiaries of this campaign and into other projects led by our partners.
We are grateful to the World Food Programme and their partners for funding this collaborative initiative.