A still from a DMI film promoting early childhood development behaviours

Location Early childhood development

Malezi II

Objective

Intervening in the first 3 years of life is the most cost-effective way to help children develop to their full potential. Effective stimulation during this period plays a key role in encouraging brain development, whilst poor nutrition and sub-optimal parental interactions hinder it. We partnered with the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) to support the Malezi II programme and improve early childhood development and nutrition outcomes by delivering a radio and mobile video campaign in the Tabora region of Tanzania.

Locations

Tanzania

Themes

Early Childhood Development (ECD) – encouraging play, child-directed language and praise.

Nutrition – preventing stunting by promoting exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding.

Formats

37 x 1-minute radio spots and 5 x 5/6-minute films distributed via mobile phones, each produced in Swahili.

Scope

The Malezi II project ran from January 2018 to December 2020. We broadcast our radio campaign on three radio stations and distributed our films in 86 health centres as well as with the help of over 270 Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Tabora.

Estimated Reach

Over 400,000 people

Project at a glance

270+
Community health workers shared our films
37
Radio spots broadcast
400,000+
people reached

All Impact Results

Our Approach

A photo of a researcher interviewing a woman as an example of DMIs field research methods

Science

Reaching Parents in Tabora

In Tanzania, 95% of under-8s are not engaged in early stimulation activities, learning opportunities, or care facilities. Tanzanian children also suffer from widespread micronutrient deficiencies, with 36% of under-fives not growing as they should for their age.

For this reason, we partnered with EGPAF to distribute age-appropriate ECD and nutrition related behaviour change messages in community and health care settings. For our radio campaign, we conducted a media analysis to identify the three most popular radio stations amongst parents in the Tabora region. As some complex messages are easier to convey visually, we also produced five short films to be shown in health centres and distributed by health workers in the community. The videos are sharable via Bluetooth, facilitating a ‘viral’ spread via internet-free sharing.

Stories

Targeted content

Our team in Tanzania worked with EGPAF to conduct desk- and field-based formative research to understand which behaviours to promote and which barriers to behaviour change to address. The overarching message we promoted was: “from birth, stimulate your children by speaking to them and engaging them with their surroundings. Play, Talk, Praise”.

For our radio campaign, we adapted 25 spots from DMI’s ASTUTE campaign in the Lake Zone to ensure they were relevant for audiences in Tabora. We wrote and recorded 12 more spots focusing exclusively on ECD behaviours, including the importance of playing, talking to and praising young children, using positive discipline to help children learn and the importance of both mothers and fathers interacting with young children.

We produced five short films, each covering a different age bracket (0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months, 24-36 months, and 0-36 months). In the films we follow Veronika, a community health worker, as she visits local families and explains the different ways in which caregivers should play with, talk to, positively discipline and praise children during these different stages of their childhood.

Still image of baby from ECD film series produced by DMI

Hands holding a a mobile phone as an example of DMIs use of mobiles to distribute films

Saturation

10 months, 37 spots, 5 films

Our 37 radio spots were broadcast 10 times a day on the three most popular radio stations in Tabora – the national radio station Radio Free Africa (RFA) and two community radio stations: CG FM and Voice of Tabora.

The five films were uploaded onto 1500 SD cards and 600 tablet devices which were shared with 276 community health workers (CHWs) in the intervention areas and 86 health centres in Tabora for use during consultations with parents and caregivers.