IEC for health promotion

OUR PROGRAM

©BAFROW

Information, Education, Communication (IEC) and Counselling

BAFROW engages a network of community-based actors to implement and support its Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities and campaigns. These men and women, drawn from our beneficiary communities, are empowered through our Functional Literacy Program on diverse health topics and trained in leadership skills. Working alongside our project facilitators and clinical staff, they effectively mobilize, educate and counsel communities, driving attitude and behaviour change while fostering community ownership of health investments.

Community-Based Actors

Clinical Staff of BAFROW Family Clinics: Support Community-Based Counsellors (CBCs) and other actors to engage communities, while providing counselling on diverse health subjects
Community-Based Counsellors (CBCs): Facilitate awareness-creation activities on issues such as sexual and reproductive health (SRH), maternal and child health, nutrition, family planning, STIs, HIV, obstetric care, obstetric fistula, hygiene and environmental sanitation—emphasizing risk factors and positive preventive practices
Thematic Focal Persons: Serve as community resource persons for specific health issues, such as menstrual hygiene management, contraceptive counselling or HIV concerns
Kaabilo Baamas: Trained to help communities identify and address maternity challenges thereby reducing maternal and neonatal deaths. They are part of an existing community structure aimed at alleviating poverty.
Association of Ex-Circumcisers: Trained as Community-Based Mobilizers to raise awareness on FGM abandonment and advocate for the adoption of BAFROW’s Alternative Rites of Passage for Girls Program, which preserves positive aspects of the practices without genital cutting
Male Action Groups: Advance women’s and girls’ SRHR and combat HIV/AIDS, sexual and gender-based violence and gender inequality. They also organize blood donation drives to support women and girls in communities requiring transfusions
BAFROW Youth Advocacy Group: Create peer-to-peer awareness on youth issues, including adolescent SRH, nutrition, hygiene, FGM, gender-based violence and substance abuse. They also provided counselling to in- and out-of-school adolescents at BAFROW’s Youth Centre for Information and Counselling (YCIC)
Support Groups: Focus on specific health conditions, offering awareness, knowledge-based support and hands-on non-clinical assistance to affected individuals (e.g. Obstetric Fistula Support Group, HIV Support Group). These groups are composed of survivors and individuals directly impacted.

Communication Channels and Tools

To maximize outreach and impact, we use a variety of communication methods including:

IEC Materials: Local-language, predominantly pictorial tools such as posters, flipcharts, flipbooks, BAFROW’s Better Life (Baluu Niimaa) Series and anatomical aprons and models
Interpersonal Approaches: Health talks at our health facilities; community awareness and dialogues; house-to-house and compound-to-compound awareness; one-to-one, couple and group counselling
Media Engagement: Phone-in programs on community radios, videos and audio recordings, online awareness targeting adolescents and youth
Public Awareness Events: Participation in International Commemoration Days to amplify key messages (e.g. International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, World Breast Cancer Awareness Month)

©BAFROW

A Community‑Based Counsellor from Mandinaba Village breaking down female reproductive health issues using BAFROW’s Better Life Mandinka version of “Common Reproductive Health Problems in Women”.

OUR PROGRAM

Information, Education, Communication (IEC) and Counselling

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