(P17-018-23) Lessons Learned From Alive & Thrive’s At-Scale Social and Behavior Change Interventions To Improve Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition Practices

Objectives: This study investigated Alive & Thrive’s (A&T’s) maternal, infant, and young child nutrition social and behavior change (SBC) implementation strategies, their impact, and lessons learned in six countries.

Methods: Program documents and peer-reviewed publications were reviewed to abstract information on program design and impact. Twenty-three key informant interviews were conducted with A&T staff and stakeholders in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Vietnam to gather lessons learned.

Results: A&T’s SBC implementation strategies involved interpersonal communication, community mobilization, and mass media to address knowledge gaps, strengthen self-efficacy, and shift social norms. The interventions increased exclusive breastfeeding, minimum meal frequency of children, and use of iron and folic acid tablets by pregnant women, but impacts were mixed on early initiation of breastfeeding and minimum dietary diversity for women. Use of multiple SBC channels and frequent contacts increased SBC impact. Lessons learned included: using existing large-scale platforms, improving counseling skills, and delivering timely tailored messages (interpersonal communication); engaging key influencers who were assigned specific roles or tasks (community mobilization); and using research to develop media plans to address underlying behavioral concerns and maximize reach and frequency, use simple memorable messages, and employ supplementary channels to reach areas with low media coverage (mass media). A&T’s use of data for design, monitoring, and evaluation and the initiative’s close collaboration with governments and other stakeholders were important for facilitating implementation and sustainability.

Conclusions: At-scale maternal, infant, and young child nutrition SBC implementation strategies were developed and effectively implemented in multiple countries, yielding lessons learned about intervention delivery, engagement of influencers, and mass media campaign development, which governments and other implementers could adapt and replicate.

Funding Sources: This research was funded by the Alive & Thrive initiative, managed by FHI Solutions, and currently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.