Soul Beat Africa

• PROGRAMMES - empowering girls in Nigeria, and an HIV treatment as prevention project in South Africa...
• EVALUATIONS - edutainment radio for youth and ICTS for sanitation...
• RESEARCH REPORTS - promoting healthy pregnancy for young couples and social mobilisation for nutrition...
• RESOURCES - toolkits and guides on using social media, mhealth, and social and behaviour change communication (SBCC)...

• 1. Voices for Change: Empowering Adolescent Girls and Women in Nigeria (V4C)Running from 2013 through 2017, the V4C programme is working to promote gender equality and women's empowerment by equipping "a wide range of young women and men to 'speak up and speak out' to challenge gender stereotypes and discriminatory social norms." The programme combines activities such as the creation of safe spaces, media and communications to change attitudes and social norms, advocacy for improved gender legislation, and digital media to facilitate interaction between girls.
  
• 2. Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program (MBNP)Running from 2012 to 2015, the Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program (MBNP) is designed to improve maternal and child healthcare practices in Tanzania in the areas of antenatal care, exclusive breastfeeding, and complementary feeding. Activities include social and behavioural change activities, such as mentoring three local radio stations to produce public service announcements (PSAs) on health and nutrition, strengthening capacity among partner civil society organisations, conducting peer education, and producing toolkits for parents.
  
• 3. Tsima: Treatment as Prevention ProjectTsima is a three-year community mobilisation intervention and research trial being implemented in South Africa to encourage communities to learn and understand that HIV treatment is also a form of HIV prevention, particularly for sero-discordant partners. Working in eight villages in the Bushbuckridge area in Mpumalanga province, the project is working to increase knowledge, dialogue, and uptake of services using community workshops and public service announcements.
  

• 4. Shuga: Engaging Tanzanian Young People in HIV Prevention through Edutainment Radio - Final Report [October, 2015]By Alison Jenkins, Alice Ijumba, Hamza Vedasto, George Magessa, Gloria Macha, and Hanna WoldemeskelThis reports shares the results of an evaluation of Shuga, an evidence-based and participatory behaviour change communication (BBC) edutainment radio drama designed to increase demand for HIV testing and counselling (HTC) and condom use among sexually active youth aged 15-24 years. This evaluation focuses on the 12-episode drama series as it was aired on 10 community radio stations and Clouds FM (the national commercial radio station) in Tanzania from June-December 2014.
  
• 5. Real-Time Monitoring of Rural Sanitation at Scale in Zambia Using Mobile-to-Web Technologies [April, 2015]By Nicolas Osbert, Alexandra Hoehne, Engervell Musonda, Swathi Manchikanti, Abel Manangi, Paul MboshyaThis brief shares findings from an assessment of activities in Zambia using a mobile-to-web (M2W) platform to support community-wide sanitation improvements through the 3 Million People Sanitation Programme. The brief discusses how the programme incorporates evidence-based models of community mobilisation, gathering and analysis of data, and behaviour change strategies, based on the M2W real-time monitoring system.
  
• 6. Building the Assets to Thrive: Addressing the HIV-related Vulnerabilities of Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia [January,2014]By Annabel ErulkarThis report discusses and shares insights gained from Population Council's HIV Prevention for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia programme, which is designed to build girls' social, health, and economic assets so that they can avoid HIV, sexual and gender-based violence, and other risks. The project comprises three interventions - Biruh Tesfa, Meseret Hiwott, and Addis Birhan, which each centre on the idea that building girls' assets can help to reduce vulnerabilities and expand opportunities.
  

• 7. Reaching Young Married Women and First-time Parents for Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies in Burkina Faso [July, 2015]By Abdoul Balde, Regina Benevides, Katie Chau, Claire Cole, Callie Simon, and Anna TomasuloThis technical brief discusses Pathfinder's experience in Burkina Faso, implementing a project to reach young married women, first-time parents, and their key influencers, for healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP) through contraceptive use. The brief discusses the context, strategy, and implementation of the project, and how it helped to build knowledge on how to reach this hard-to-reach population.
  
• 8. Social Mobilisation, Advocacy and Communication for Nutrition: Scaling up Nutrition in Practice [July, 2014]This briefing from Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) focuses on social mobilisation, advocacy, and communication based on lessons from six of its affiliated countries: Peru, Cameroon, Uganda, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kenya. SUN is an international movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition. It unites governments, civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses, and researchers in a collective effort to improve nutrition.
  
• 9. mHealth for Behavior Change Communication Brief: Why mHealth Messaging? [January, 2015]This Measure Evaluation Technical Brief explores the use of mHealth technology which is being used to address a variety of health topics such as adherence for antiretroviral drug regimens, pregnancy-related knowledge, and antenatal care visits for pregnant women. The brief looks at the available channels that can be used, offers a summary of behavioural theories and message frames, and gives step-by-step guidelines to creating an mHealth programme.
  

• 10. The Urban Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Social and Behavior Change Communications Implementation Kit [October, 2015]This Implementation Kit provides a selection of Essential Elements and tools to guide the creation, or strengthening, of SRH and SBCC programmes for urban adolescents aged 10 to 19. Published by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3), the I-Kit breaks down and explains key SBCC elements to programme managers, designers, and implementers working with adolescents, SRH, and SBCC, as well as those in youth-led organisations.
  
• 11. Make Me a Change Agent: A Multisectoral SBC Resource for Community Workers and Field Staff[June, 2015]This publication offers a curriculum that is designed to build the skills of community-level workers, such as community development agents, community health workers, and agriculture extension agents, to be more effective behaviour change promoters in their communities. According to the guide, "the lessons are not sector specific, but are tried and true generic skills, such as communication and storytelling, that can help a development worker in any sector become more effective as an agent of behavior change."
  
• 12. IFEX Campaign Toolkit: 6 Steps to Creating Effective Free Expression Campaigns [August, 2013]This IFEX Campaign Toolkit is designed to help support campaigns for free expression, either for people and organisations who are launching a new campaign or who need guidance on a specific campaign element. The toolkit contains six guides, each designed to help support different steps in campaigns that seek to advocate for freedom of expression and citizen action.
  
• 13. Media Briefs on Ending Child Marriage in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia [2015]Published by Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf), this series of Media Briefs for Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia were produced to provide the media with information about child marriage. The briefs are intended to help improve journalists' knowledge and enhance their reporting on child marriage in order to facilitate the necessary social, cultural, legal, and policy changes required to end child marriage.
  
• 14. MAPS Toolkit: mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale [2015]This mHealth Assessment and Planning for Scale (MAPS) toolkit is a self-assessment and planning guide designed to help mHealth (mobile health) projects to develop strategies to increase the potential for scaling up and achieving long-term sustainability. It is designed specifically for project managers and project teams who are already deploying an mHealth product, and who are aiming to increase the scale of impact.
  
• 15. Global Social Networking: A Guide to Strengthening Civil Society Through Social Media [January, 2014]By Tina YesayanThis guide offers an overview of best practices in using social media for advocacy and is intended as a reference for civil society organisations to integrate and use technology to promote democracy, human rights, and governance, as well as utilise social media to support greater citizen participation and transparent political processes. Realising the ever-changing landscape of social media, the guide was designed to avoid specifics and rather offers organisations ideas on how to approach social media as a whole and how to reach their intended programmatic goals using the medium.