Follow Who Know Road Campaign: Development, Implementation, and Lessons Learned

This program brief describes the process of implementing the Follow Who Know Road campaign in Nigeria—from developing the campaign concept to producing and airing the campaign. It also offers lessons learned that social and behavior change practitioners can apply to their work, particularly during a public health emergency.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, community members believed COVID-19 was “a plan created by the government” or that it did not exist and that prevention strategies, such as vaccines, were untrustworthy.

Through a partnership with the Government of Nigeria, Breakthrough ACTION developed the Follow Who Know Road mass media campaign to dispel these myths and encourage vaccine uptake. The campaign was designed and implemented using systematic social and behavior change approaches grounded in theory and a deep understanding of the audience. It subsequently aired on television, radio, and social media in 19 languages.

As a result of this systematic process, more than two out of three unvaccinated people exposed to the campaign showed a positive change in their vaccine intentions and behavior. Of those unvaccinated people who heard the campaign on the radio or on television, 14 million received a vaccine soon after and 5 million more said they wanted one as soon as possible.