2011 Grant Recipient 
Nigeria
MSPH Program, Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, JHSPH
To provide programmatic support to the NURHI Ibadan and Ilorin offices with documentation, reporting and the implementation of site-level BCC activities. Activities:
1. Assist Ibadan and Ilorin teams with implementing the NURHI documentation plan including submission of success stories, field narratives, activity reports, etc.
2. Using the concept of the field narratives outlined in the documentation plan, work with the NURHI BCC/Advocacy Officer and M&E Officer to develop a package of “Family Planning Stories” that include text, photos, audio and video profiling people from each component of the program – different levels of FP providers and FPPN members, advocates, FP users and non users, men and women, young and mid life. These stories would be used on the website, in advocacy, and potentially in communication materials.
3. Assist Ibadan and Ilorin teams gather materials and write updates and success stories for the website.
4. Liaise with the NURHI documentation team and Website Advisory Group to provide the NURHI IT consultant with content to upload to the website.
5. Work with identified local BCC consultants to help collect the field narratives/FP stories.
6. Participate in team activities as requested, such as work plan preparation, social mobilization workshop, pretesting of demand generation materials, supporting the Family Planning Providers Networks, etc.
7. Assist the NURHI BCC team with the review of briefs, materials, scripts, etc. for publication. Personal Narratives:
Having never lived or worked in a developing country before, I was excited to get a chance to spend three months in Nigeria with the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) through the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. I had been working toward this type of opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa for a few years, so finally getting a chance to work on a health topic that I am passionate about and supporting the excellent work already being done by Nigerians there kept me from feeling much apprehension about the trip ahead of time.
Upon arriving, I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth Nigerians and my hosts showed me. I learned that Nigeria is a richly diverse country with many languages and ethnic groups within its borders. Its citizens are deeply family-oriented, religious, and resilient in the face of many daily obstacles. I had decided to live with Nigerian families for the duration of my trip and never regretted that decision for a moment. Living with locals not only helped me better understand the culture in a broad sense, but it gave me a glimpse into the cultural and historical contexts of the health issues experienced today. Some of the most enlightening conversations I had took place over a meal with my hosts.
My internship focused primarily on assisting the NURHI teams in documenting their many successes. In order to do this, I interviewed numerous stakeholders, including health care providers, religious and traditional leaders, and local and state level politicians. A lesson I learned through those interviews was that maternal mortality and family planning in Nigeria have been addressed for years through various programs, the quality and success of which have varied widely. However, for many reasons, both known and unknown, the problem of maternal death is still unacceptably high despite great efforts to curb it. It is still somewhat of a mystery to me how to effectively address these problems as they are extremely complex, but having the privilege to learn from the NURHI approach, which targets the problem from many angles and continuously incorporates measures to increase local ownership and sustainability, expanded my understanding of the many facets that are necessary to have an effective program. Through this experience, I was able to be involved in the training of health workers, advocacy visits to religious and political figures, social mobilization strategy development, and the pretesting stage of a research study, among others. As someone with public health experience solely in the United States, this trip exposed me to the wide range of ways one can utilize public health training in low-income countries.
This experience also surprised me by increasing my interest in research. Prior to my trip, I had thought I would likely go into program development or monitoring and evaluation after I complete my degree, but the lack of information we have on certain topics and specific geographic areas was surprising. And strategically increasing useful knowledge could assist those who are advocating for change or developing programs to address specific health related problems. I look forward to utilizing the insight I gained from this trip to conduct better research and more critically analyze programs and initiatives. Photo Album: |
