Evaluation of Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria’s Social and Behavior Change Public Sector Capacity Strengthening Approach

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the project focuses on strengthening the social and behavior change communication (SBCC) capacity of public sector individuals, organizations, and systems at the ward, local, state, and national levels. The project's PSCS approach is modeled on the SBCC Capacity Ecosystem developed by USAID's Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) Project. This ecosystem reflects the systematic assessment, design, and implementation of customized and strategic capacity strengthening for SBCC programming. Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria recognizes that the public sector operates in all three domains of the SBC ecosystem, namely at the individual, organizational, and system levels, and focuses on strengthening the SBC capacity of public sector individuals, organizations, and systems at these levels. At the individual level, Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria enhances the SBC skills of public sector stakeholders through on-the-job training, self-directed learning, and experiential learning approaches. At the organizational level, the project strengthens organizational and individual connections and coordination, develops processes and systems to facilitate outcome-oriented coordination, and improves advocacy for SBC promotion/communication. At the systems level, Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria works to institutionalize skills and capacity for improved coordination and SBC design and programming at the local, state, and national levels. The project's strategic objectives include supporting key Ministry of Health operating units to strengthen coordination, planning, and quality assurance for SBC at the national and sub-national levels, strengthening public sector systems for oversight and coordination of SBC at the national and sub-national levels, improving the quality and impact of SBC activities across the public sector, and developing effective systems for ensuring SBC quality assurance and establishing consensus agendas at national and/or sub-national levels for SBC programming and investment. Breakthrough RESEARCH's study goal was to 'harvest' Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria's SBC PSCS project outcomes between 2017 and 2021 and assess whether and how the strategic objectives outlined in the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria operational/workplan contributed to the identified outcomes. The study objectives included identifying achievements, including policy and practice changes, of project beneficiaries at the individual, organizational, and systems levels, assessing the extent to which project beneficiaries have been able to strengthen capacity to coordinate their activities at the three SBC Ecosystem Capacity levels, exploring the relative acceptance, coordination, and effectiveness of SBC strengthening activities across different health units at the organizational level, and identifying areas where the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria SBC PSCS project outcomes were not achieved to provide recommendations for improvement and adaptive project management. The study context for the PSCS implementation levels includes individual, organizational, and systems levels, with Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria focusing on enhancing the SBC skills of public sector stakeholders, strengthening organizational and individual connections and coordination, and working to institutionalize skills and capacity for improved coordination and SBC design and programming at the local, state, and national levels. The PSCS strategic objectives include supporting key Ministry of Health operating units, strengthening public sector systems, improving the quality and impact of SBC activities, and developing effective systems for ensuring SBC quality assurance and establishing consensus agendas. Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria's Community Capacity Strengthening (CCS) approach focuses on social change and increasing agency at the community and ward levels. The project's study context includes the implementation of the PSCS approach at the individual, organizational, and systems levels, with a focus on strengthening the SBC capacity of public sector individuals, organizations, and systems at the ward, local, state, and national levels. The project's strategic objectives include supporting key Ministry of Health operating units, strengthening public sector systems, improving the quality and impact of SBC activities, and developing effective systems for ensuring SBC quality assurance and establishing consensus agendas. The study's objectives include identifying achievements, including policy and practice changes, of project beneficiaries at the individual, organizational, and systems levels, assessing the extent to which project beneficiaries have been able to strengthen capacity to coordinate their activities at the three SBC Ecosystem Capacity levels, exploring the relative acceptance, coordination, and effectiveness of SBC strengthening activities across different health units at the organizational level, and identifying areas where the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria SBC PSCS project outcomes were not achieved to provide recommendations for improvement and adaptive project management.