Final evaluation of the information, education, and communication subproject of the Egypt population/family planning II project (no. 263-0144)

The subproject has been implemented by the State Information Service (SIS) under the Ministry of Information, through its IEC Center and 58 local information centers. SIS has made major efforts to implement the recommendations of A.I.D. evaluations and assessments and to achieve the subproject purpose of increasing family planning knowledge and contraceptive awareness and practice through the mass media and interpersonal communication. It has demonstrated that it has a comparative advantage as an IEC family planning implementing agency in three areas: reaching rural women through television; reaching rural men through interpersonal communication activities; and using its extensive network of local influential and religious leaders. One of SIS' major strengths is its sound base of professional and committed staff at both the central and local levels as well as its willingness to respond to recommendations and to innovate. It has demonstrated that it is able to both implement and use surveys and research. In order to increase its efficiency in reducing the family planning acceptance-practice gap, SIS needs to place greater emphasis on rural Upper Egypt where contraceptive rates remain low; base its television productions on formative field research in order to effectively reach the target audiences; develop a field-based planning process for its local activities; and improve the methods and materials used in its interpersonal communication activities. SIS is also in a prime position for developing inter-agency coordination at both national and local levels. The following lessons were learned. (1) It is more cost-effective to pass family planning messages through short, well-targeted spots than through multi-episode series. Focus group surveys indicate that rural women will remember short, specific messages. (2) Television spots that are placed in a rural setting and that show everyday rural situations are the most effective in reaching rural women. (3) Media messages targeting rural and poor urban men and women need to be linked to the daily reality of these groups, who find it difficult to relate to national issues. (4) Television spots cannot effectively achieve their objectives unless pre-production research is undertaken with the target to identify the most appropriate themes for passing on messages and to test alternative scenarios/images before going into production. (5) In order for interpersonal communication activities to effectively address local problems, local workplans need to be developed in the field by the local offices themselves through a "diagnostic" process involving all of the local actors and agencies. (6) Central office staff can only address local office program needs if they are in regular contact with the field through visits and field-based technical assistance. (7) In order for workshops for local influentials to achieve maximum efficiency they must be designed to meet the needs of participants who work with specific target groups, e.g., religious leaders/rural men; female social workers/rural women; teachers/high school students; and male youth leaders/male youth. (8) When several local office staff are actively involved in IEC family planning activities, it is important that they be trained side by side in major skill areas in order to use the same approaches and pass on the same messages. (9) Local activities are much more effective and the coverage much broader when implemented in close conjunction with other implementing agencies. (Author abstract)