Media Engagement and Capacity-Building to Increase Commitment to IYCF Policies and Programs: Lessons Learned from Alive & Thrive

"From 2010-2014, Alive & Thrive worked in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam to reduce undernutrition and death caused by sub-optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices.... The initiative’s work includes a community component that integrates counseling on IYCF into existing health services and mass media campaigns that target mothers and the general public with information to promote optimal IYCF practices."

The IYCF programme of Alive and Thrive developed a policy advocacy component alongside the intervention, for the purpose of creating a sustainable enabling environment for IYCF by increasing supportive national policies and the implementation and scale-up of IYCF programs. Their four-pronged approach included: media engagement, the topic of this document; partnering with medical communities; work on shaping local nutrition policies; and partnering with champions and influential organisations. (See related summaries below.)

Media engagement serves the purpose of spotlighting research reports, events, launches of projects, and programme interventions for opinion-leaders and decision-makers, as well as a wide audience, so that they are aware of the "impact that ...IYCF...and child nutrition have on individuals, families, and an entire nation." Though media outlets, channels, and programmes vary and require unique approaches, they are perceived by audiences as independent and credible sources. "[B]uilding true media capacity requires long-term, sustained engagement with journalists and newsrooms to permanently shift the coverage, understanding, and prioritization of an issue.”

Alive and Thrive tactics to raise awareness of the impact of IYCF on a country’s health and economy include:

• "Enhance capacity of health reporters to conduct in-depth reporting on IYCF and child nutrition through training, and ongoing journalist engagement.
• Increase the availability, and use of new data and information to create a steady drumbeat of information to drive coverage and deeper content.
• Increase news editor and news director commitment to covering IYCF and child nutrition." 

Long-term capacity building had two phases: first, a media landscape analysis and consultation with in-country partners and media experts and, second, development of the programme, with a mid-point evaluation to identify lessons learned and inform the design of the programme’s second phase. 

For example, key components in Bangladesh included:

• Media assessment: content analysis of 10 national and 10 local newspapers, as well as four television channels, "to determine what types of child nutrition issues received coverage, how each was covered, story placement to determine priority and importance, and coverage frequency"; and "...one-on-one interviews with 20 reporters, 20 news editors and directors, five issue experts, five NGO senior staff, and 20 readers to identify gaps and opportunities in coverage, and to inform the design of a journalist training curriculum. These assessments provided an informal baseline against which future coverage could be anecdotally measured."
• Journalist training and sensitisation workshop on IYCF: a two-day residential training course for 23 health reporters from national print and electronic media, including "hands-on experience through mock interview sessions, story development, and feedback by seasoned journalists."
• Journalism fellowships: provision of specific and regular opportunities to create more in-depth and frequent IYCF news coverage - each fellow paired with a mentor. The fellows programme included study circles on specific issues and field visits to community-level programmes to develop for journalists contacts with local health services.
• Division-level correspondents training: a two-day training for national media correspondents, especially focused in areas with high levels of malnutrition, to expand the network of reporters and create a link between reporters at national news outlets and other information and news sources. 
• TV producers workshop: a programme to build knowledge and awareness of the impact of IYCF and nutrition among TV talk show producers to motivate increased discussion and coverage. 
• News editor and director workshop: a workshop to sensitise 20 news editors and directors from national media houses. 
• Spokesperson and issue expert orientation: a first-of-its-kind spokesperson and issue expert media training for 19 medical professionals, including mock interview sessions with senior newsroom experts.
• Editorial roundtable discussions: a roundtable discussion in the offices of the widest circulation English-language newspaper in Bangladesh -  including multi-sectoral government ministries and departments, NGOs, and the media - on multi-sectoral approaches to nutrition - a conversation now sustained by partners.

Lessons learned and recommendations for action involve:

• The potential for effective media engagement as a way to involve government partners;
• The value of spokesperson training to overcome their hesitancy to reach out to media and effectively communicate key messages;
• The need for newsroom support of coverage of the issue so that stories from trained reports are more likely to be featured - “Engaging key editors as fellowship mentors, and building knowledge through workshops and meetings, can increase awareness and generate additional news coverage";
• New data and information required frequently to refresh interest and contribute to news stories;
• Journalists who see the impact of programmes and become watchdogs and champions through their vested interest;
• NGOs and stakeholder organisations developing a joint media calendar to maximise coverage and engage journalists;
• Awareness that advertisements revenues from breastmilk substitute (BMS) companies can lead to media outlet resistance to IYCF coverage;
• Investment in established media relationships that are critical for responding quickly to negative issues.

The document concludes that "an ideal media engagement program includes comprehensive and long-term activities to ensure a sustainable impact..." through a systematic approach to sustained rapport and capacity building.