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 Early childhood development
16% of Mozambique’s population is under the age of five and more than half of this group is at risk of poor development (UNICEF, 2021).
Munnuwelo (meaning “childhood” in Makhuwa) aims to shift caregivers’ behaviours and improve the developmental outcomes of children aged under 3.
Mozambique
Early childhood development
40 x radio spots, 60 x long format radio shows, and 5 x training workshops
December 2022 – February 2026
We estimate Munnuwelo will reach over 8.9 million people
Science
We conducted formative research to better understand barriers and facilitators to ECD behaviours. With support from our research partners, Feeding the Change, we carried out 92 focus group discussions, 13 caregiver observations, and 11 community interviews across Nampula, Zambezia, and Manica provinces. We also engaged with fellow grantees PATH, ChildFund, Wona Sanana, UNICEF and USAID to better understand the current ECD landscape in Mozambique and consider how Munnuwelo could complement existing ECD initiatives.
At the end of the campaign, DMI will conduct an endline survey to assess the impact of the campaign outcomes.
Stories
Our aim is to complement and amplify the work of other ECD partners in Mozambique, particularly those working to encourage fathers to increase their involvement. We are also building on our previous ECD work as part of the FCDO-funded Addressing Stunting in Tanzania Early (ASTUTE).
We collated the findings from the formative research and the discussions with partners to produce the campaign’s ‘message briefs’ which clearly highlight the behaviours to promote, the reasons why changing these behaviours brings positive results, and the main barriers to behaviour change, helping to inform creative decisions. We have produced two message briefs for Munnuwelo, on ECD (covering the topics of: communication & language, play, love & affection, and encouragement & discipline) and on complementary feeding.
Saturation
We will broadcast radio spots nationally on a network of community and provincial radio stations. In addition, long-format, interactive programming will be broadcast on a selection of the most popular radio stations in Nampula province.
The key target audience will be caregivers of children under 3 years and expectant parents, who listen to the radio. According to 2011 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data and census projections, it is estimated that there are over 16 million radio listeners in Mozambique. Based on radio exposure data collected during the endline survey of Scaling up Lives Saved in Mozambique, we estimate Munnuwelo will reach a total of 8.9 million people.
Project impact
We will assess the impact of the campaign by:
We will select matched clusters in areas that receive the radio spots-only campaign and in areas that receive the radio spots and interactive show radio programming. This will allow us to conduct a sensitivity analysis to explore whether the impact on indicators varies by exposure to the type of campaign, i.e. only radio spots vs. exposure via both radio spots and interactive radio show programming.
We will conduct a process evaluation of the intervention, including qualitative research with the public to assess exposure, acceptability, and attitudes to the campaign and reported impact. We will also conduct qualitative research with caregivers exposed to the intervention to explore their attitudes towards the campaign and impact on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour change.
We are grateful to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for funding this intervention, and to Feeding the Change for their research contribution.