Analyzing Findings and Developing Recommendations with Stakeholders in Nigeria

In collaboration with UNICEF and the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), SPRING carried out an evaluation of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding (C-IYCF) Counselling Package in Nigeria. In September 2017, SPRING, UNICEF, and the FMOH presented and discussed findings from the evaluation with key stakeholders during two events - one in Abuja and another in Kaduna state, where the evaluation was conducted.

View the C-IYCF final summary report.

Forty stakeholders representing USAID, the World Bank, various international NGOs, the Nigerian civil society, and all levels of the Nigerian government, met in Abuja.

Susan Adeyemi, former SPRING Study Coordinator and currently a consultant for UNICEF/Nigeria, presented the implementation process, activities, and outputs.

In Kaduna, Mr. Adams G. Ango, the Kajuru LGA Nutrition Focal Person, who worked closely with Ms. Adeyemi in overseeing implementation, took the lead on presenting implementation process, activities, and outputs.

The study team presented the implementation process, environmental and contextual factors that enabled and limited success of the Package, outcomes from training health workers and community volunteers in the Package, and impact on maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

In Kaduna, Ms. Chinwe Ezeife, UNICEF/Nigeria Nutrition Specialist, introduced community leaders and members who were invited to share their experiences participating in various activities implemented as part of the C-IYCF Counselling Package.

Participants like Ms. Ruth Yohana, the Director of Primary Health Care of Kajuru LGA (our study site), actively engaged in both consultations.

In Abuja, participants analyze findings presented on “data placemats”.

Participants share conclusions from their review of data placemats.

Participants like Ms. Maris S. Dangi, a Ward Focal Person from Kufana ward in Kajuru LGA, review a set of recommendations drafted by the study team.

Participants discuss the draft recommendations in small groups.

Participants, including here Ms. Deborah Bayero, the Nutrition Focal Person (far right) and Dr Neyu Iliyasu, Director of Primary Health Care(middle) of the Kauru LGA (the comparison site for the evaluation), discuss the draft recommendations in small groups.

Ms. Hauwa Usman, the Kaduna State Nutrition Officer, ranks recommendations in terms of their feasibility and relevancy in the Nigerian context.

Ms. Beatrice Eluaka, who played a key role in adapting the C-IYCF Counselling Package in Nigeria when she was working with the FMOH and is now Director of the Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (SUNN) movement’s Civil Society Network, shares her recommendations for further improving and scaling up the Package.

In total, at the Kaduna event there were 60 participants, primarily from Kaduna state government and the Kajuru and Kauru local government areas (the intervention and comparison sites).

Ms. Jane Gwani, the former State Nutrition Officer of Kaduna state, expresses her enthusiasm for the program, and a commitment to scaling up the C-IYCF Counselling Package.