Francophone West Africa

In francophone West Africa, Breakthrough provides family planning and reproductive health social and behavior change (SBC) capacity strengthening and technical assistance to governments and implementing partners.

Breakthrough ACTION’s work in francophone West Africa is conducted through the West Africa Breakthrough ACTION (WABA) project. WABA currently operates across Togo, Cameroon, and Mauritania, engaging national level stakeholders to design, implement, and monitor SBC family planning activities. WABA encourages improving family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) service communication and reducing barriers that prevent individuals from adopting priority behaviors by promoting the adaptation of WABA tools and approaches.

From 2018-2023, WABA implemented this work in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Togo. Collaborating with AmplifyPF, WABA supported the design and implementation of mass media campaigns. Confiance Totale and Merci Mon Héros reached millions of youth and adults to increase dialogue and access to information about family planning and promote reproductive health services. WABA developed kits to enable local partners and stakeholders to use community engagement approaches for social and behavior change. Humanizing clients and providers is at the center of WABA’s work, promoting empathy and reducing stigma to ensure improvements to sustainable FP/RH systems and behaviors.

Focus On

SBC Programming for Family Planning

The WABA overview page compiles resources created to support technically sound SBC programming for family planning in West Africa and that contributes to the Ouagadougou Partnership’s goal to reach 13 million family planning users by 2030.

The overview page is available in English and French.

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People clapping in a health care facility

Featured Resources

Merci Mon Héros

This multifaceted campaign brought young people and adults together to increase social acceptance of youth access to FP/RH information and services.

Four people walking outside and talking with face masks on

WABA Provider Behavior Change for Improved Family Planning Service Delivery

This set of provider behavior change solutions focuses on improving the family planning service delivery experience in West Africa.

Community members gather to pilot a new family planning counseling tool in Niger

West Africa Breakthrough ACTION Experiences

This technical brief highlights promising, proven, and innovative approaches Breakthrough ACTION used in West Africa to improve family planning outcomes.

SEE ALL FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA RESOURCES

Why We Do This Work

Confiance Totale Campaign

Confiance Totale (Total Confidence) Campaign

The Confiance Totale campaign included branded products and activities (e.g., provider recognition events, intensive radio campaigns, print materials) designed to improve communication increase demand for and use of local FP/RH facilities and services.

Key result

A household survey in Togo revealed significant positive outcomes from the Confiance Totale radio campaign. Among those who heard the campaign, modern FP use was significantly higher (41%), compared to those who had not heard campaign messages (28.1%). Exposure to the campaign was positively associated (p<0.001, OR=1.45) with couple communication about FP, a key behavioral determinant for FP use.

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Merci Mon Héros Campaign

Merci Mon Héros (Thank You, My Hero) Campaign

Merci Mon Héros was a youth-led, multi-faceted campaign using radio, television, community activities, print media, and social media to bring young people and adults together to overcome taboos and increase social acceptance of youth access to FP, contraception, and RH information and services. This approach is designed to improve intergenerational and couple communication about FP/RH, a key behavioral determinant for FP use.

Key results

A study of exposure and impact found that approximately one-quarter of the people surveyed (24.5%) in Côte d’Ivoire reported they had been exposed to Merci Mon Héros (MMH). Those exposed had increased odds of having spoken to someone about FP/RH in the past five months, compared to those not exposed. In Niger, over 40% of people recognized the program’s logo or song, and those who saw or heard the messages multiple times were nearly three times more likely to have talked about FP/RH with someone in the past five months.

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Standardized Community Engagement Activities

Members of the 19 district management teams in four countries were trained and given tools to continue community engagement approaches, including community dialogues (CDs) and site walk-throughs (SWTs), to improve acceptance and use of FP/RH services and improve FP service quality via community-driven solutions.

Key result

In Year Two, coupons (with no monetary value) were developed to remind people to go to services for FP methods. Through the end of Year Four, WABA distributed 29,189 coupons across all four countries. Of these, 21% were presented at sentinel sites, representing 9% of the total FP service provision at the sentinel sites. Nearly all of those who returned the coupons to sentinel sites (93% cumulatively) adopted an FP method.

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Empathways Card Game

Empathways is a card game designed to facilitate conversations and improve empathy and intergenerational communication around youth FP/RH. Communication is an important behavioral determinant for FP use. Two versions of the game were created:

Key result

Per a monitoring activity carried out in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, approximately 80% of women and 100% of men surveyed approximately one month after using the community Empathways card deck declared it was acceptable for a young person to use contraception.

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Provider-centric Solutions

Stakeholders from each country used a strategic design process to identify a core problem and develop solutions, including the YASSOMA toolkit to improve providers’ empathy toward clients in Burkina Faso, a national FP counseling tool in Côte d’Ivoire, a “Provider Promise” and client segmentation tool to motivate and assist providers in Niger, and a color-coded client orientation system to improve client flow in Togo.

Key result

Three ministries of health are expanding the use of provider behavior change (PBC) solutions in health centers and hospitals. In Niger and Côte d’Ivoire, the ministries of health and their partners (USAID/Momentum Country and Global Leadership project, Médecins sans Frontières [MSF], Red Cross) have replicated the PBC tools for use in increasing the numbers of sites and districts in each country. In Togo, prefects and districts added the color-coded client orientation system to their 2024–2025 work plans. The USAID Expand Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health project (ExpandPF) plans to replicate client feedback tools from the WABA PBC materials in their implementation countries (Togo, Cameroon, Mauritania).

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Technical Working Groups

SBC for FP technical working groups established and maintained in each country

FP technical working groups (TWGs) are important coordination and knowledge management platforms for SBC professionals to share technical resources, insights, and lessons learned; plan for joint, collaborative activities; and improve collective impact through harmonization.

Key result

WABA supported 51 TWG or similar group meetings over the life of the project in all four countries. These groups conducted national SBC activity and partner mapping, identified gender norms, and learned about high-impact practices to increase FP uptake.

Revised Costed Implementation Plans

Revised Costed Implementation Plans (CIPs) in each of the four WABA countries

The project provided technical assistance to evaluate and update national multi-year roadmaps that prioritize and cost-out evidence-based SBC activities that help government and stakeholders achieve FP goals. WABA worked closely with USAID partner Promoting Results and Outcomes through Policy and Economic Levers (PROPEL) and its predecessor, Health Policy Plus.

Key result

By participating in a series of CIP SBC workshops, participants strengthened their capacity to assess previous SBC efforts and propose new activities. Stakeholders completed the new CIPs in all four WABA countries, featuring SBC best practices and evidence-based approaches.

Blog Posts

Two men during an Merci Mon Héros interview

Can Social Listening and Social Media Monitoring Benefit Your SBC Activities?

January 7, 2021

"I’d like to use the injectable, but my boyfriend might think it’s weird if I’m bleeding irregularly." "I don’t think this doctor understands what I need, but he’ll become angry if I ask a question about his recommendation."

New Social Norm Taxonomy Helps Address Family Planning Challenges in West Africa

November 11, 2020

Is Better Measurement the Key to Increased Investment in Social and Behavior Change for Family Planning in Francophone West Africa?

July 22, 2020

SEE ALL FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA BLOG POSTS

Courses and
Toolkits

Introduction au changement social et de comportement

FRANÇAIS ENGLISH

Planification et mise en œuvre de programmes de changement social et de comportement en matière de planification familiale et de santé reproductive

FRANÇAIS

Modification des normes sociales et de genre dans le cadre du changement social et de comportement, 1ère partie

FRANÇAIS ENGLISH

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This website is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Breakthrough awards are supported by USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health, under Cooperative Agreements: #AID-OAA-A-17-00017 and #AID-OAA-A-17-00018. Breakthrough ACTION is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs. Breakthrough RESEARCH is based at Population Council. The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Breakthrough ACTION and Breakthrough RESEARCH. The information provided on this website is not official U.S. Government information and does not necessarily represent the views or positions of USAID, the United States Government, Johns Hopkins University, or Population Council.

Francophone West Africa

Francophone West Africa

Focus On

SBC Programming for Family Planning

Featured Resources

Merci Mon Héros

WABA Provider Behavior Change for Improved Family Planning Service Delivery

West Africa Breakthrough ACTION Experiences

Why We Do This Work

Confiance Totale (Total Confidence) Campaign

Key result

Blog Posts

Can Social Listening and Social Media Monitoring Benefit Your SBC Activities?

New Social Norm Taxonomy Helps Address Family Planning Challenges in West Africa

Is Better Measurement the Key to Increased Investment in Social and Behavior Change for Family Planning in Francophone West Africa?

Courses and Toolkits

Courses and
Toolkits