Strategic Communication for Development Projects: A Toolkit for Task Team Leaders

Originally published in 1996 as "Communication for Behaviour change: A Toolkit for Task Managers", this document is now offered as part of the World Bank's Distance Learning Course on strategic communication. The kit supports health systems investment projects through using behaviour change communication strategies. It is designed to help World Bank managers plan and supervise the implementation of communication activities in population, health, and nutrition (PHN) projects.

 

The tool kit contains: communication research approaches for World Bank projects; a guide to communication indicators; sample terms of reference for bank and borrower consultants; guiding questions for assessing organisational capacity; a sample budget and implementation plan; and case studies of practices in behaviour change communication.

 

• Module one is an overview including: communication to change behaviour; designing a communication plan; communication activities in World Bank projects; and implications for action.
  
• Module two details communication research approaches for bank projects, including research during the planning phase and during the materials development phase, and research to monitor implementation
  
• Module three is a list of key indicators for measuring outcomes and tracking inputs and processes that contribute to outcomes.
  
• Module four includes terms of reference for bank consultants, demonstrated as projects with background for context and terms describing tasks undertaken during project preparation and supervision.
  
• Module five includes terms of reference for borrower consultants. It describes three illustrative projects in basic education, health, and primary school development.
• Module six contains examples of quantitative and qualitative research techniques used in developing communication strategies and in tracking knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practise changes.
  
• Module seven includes guide questions for assessing organisational capacity.
  
• Module eight is a sample implementation plan.
• Module nine is a sample timeline.
  
• Module ten is a model budget.
  
• Module eleven is a collection of best practices in population, health, and nutrition (PHN) projects.

Case studies include use of communication tools such as television, radio, personal interactions, and telephone hotlines. These "best practice" examples include:

• Promoting Family Planning in Bangladesh
• Increasing Immunisation Coverage in Ecuador
• Marketing Iodised Salt in Ecuador
• Improving Nutritional Status in Indonesia
• Initiating Breastfeeding in Jordan
• Promoting Sexual Responsibility among Teens in the Philippines
• Reducing the Spread of HIV/IDS in Zaire