How to Mobilize Communities for Health and Social Change

In South Sudan, Breakthrough ACTION adapted the Community Action Cycle to include elements of Partnership Defined Quality. The combined model allows for the engagement of community members and health service providers by creating opportunities for discussion, both separately and then together, to identify issues around accessing and providing health care to communities and how to address these issues. The hybrid approach encourages community collective action and social accountability.

As part of this work, Breakthrough ACTION developed the How to Mobilize Communities for Health and Social Change facilitator and participant manual and three toolkits for community action groups to use in supporting the implementation of the Community Action Cycle process.

Behavioral Objectives

• Contribute to sustained change in behavioral and social norms.
• Strengthen the capacity of communities to carry out activities in a participatory and sustained basis to improve their health and other needs.
• Understand the issues that prevent communities from seeking family planning and reproductive health services and prioritize and address the issues together.
• Ignite collective action to support the uptake and seeking of health services for family planning and reproductive health.