ACTION PLAN FORMULATION:
Examples of community engagement activities
At least 11 major strategies can be used in community mobilization for CMAM program. The major
community mobilization strategies and associated activities for CMAM are provided in the table below.
These generic strategies should to be contextualized and modified based on the community assessment
findings. They should also be streamlined for use in local community systems, structures and resources
and involve existing community actors.
In reality, there is no stand-alone strategy and a combination of strategies should to be used for
community mobilization. Similarly, there is a distinction between strategies and activities, and many
develop simultaneously.
Strategy
1
Establish a formal
structure
2
Ensure strong leadership
3
Engage diverse
community actors
4
Ensure genuine
community participation
and shared decision
making
5
Link/ Integrate
community mobilization
activities for CMAM into
existing community-based
initiatives
Description/Activities
• Establish or reinforce a formal existing coordination mechanism at all levels
that can effectively lead community mobilization efforts e.g., health
coordination meeting, village health committee etc.
• Establish or reinforce links between community actors and health actors.
• Engage strong leadership through community members to drive the
community-mobilization efforts for CMAM program. This includes assigning
focal persons for community mobilization coordination at all levels (district o
health office, health facility etc).
• Focal person provides overall coordination and facilitates a dialogue between
community actors and health system, and implementation of the community
mobilization activities
• Ensure that focal persons have adequate support and resources.
• Engage community actors who are most likely to support the CMAM program,
and prevention and control of under-nutrition efforts. This includes
community figures, members, caretakers, health care providers, outreach
workers and volunteers, community-based associations.
• Reach out to organizations and key players that are not the “usual health
providers” (such as health workers, health facility and office). This includes
local senior staff from different sector offices (education, women and children
affairs, agriculture, and political leaders), media professionals and others who
has significant influence in the community.
• Support a sense of community actor’s commitment and ownership of the
CMAM. Plan for the community mobilization efforts by establishing clear roles
and responsibilities for all community actors, developing shared decision
making processes, and ensuring that community members are in key decisionmaking roles as early as possible in CMAM program and community
mobilization program design, implementation to evaluation.
• The community groups need to identify and address caretakers’ barriers to
access to care, and service delivery challenges
• Integrate community mobilization for CMAM with other community-based
health and other programs initiatives; e.g., CMAM into iCCM, C-IMC, IYCF,
health extension program, national immunization day, sick-baby and wellbaby clinic, maternal health clinic, WASH etc.;
• Training outreach workers and volunteers from other programs on
community mobilization for CMAM
Strategy
6
Implement high impact
outreach activities for
CMAM
Sensitize the community
about CMAM and
malnutrition
Conduct timely case
finding and referral
Conduct home visit
follow- up
Promote social and
behavior Change
7
Design and create an
action plan in
participatory process
8
Recruit and supervise
community health
workers/volunteers, and
provide technical support
Description/Activities
• Plan and implement contextualized outreach activities for CMAM depending
on the availability of resources, prevalence of malnutrition, local capacity and
type of CMAM program
• Include community sensitization, timely case finding and referral, home visit
follow-up for defaulter and non-responder, social and behavioral change
communication (SBCC) for health and nutrition issues
• Develop sensitization messages in collaboration with community members,
identify and select dissemination channels. Test messaging for impact and
then roll-out to wider community
• At start of CMAM program, orient key community figures about CMAM and
malnutrition, make announcement of the services to community
• Continue community sensitization on causes and prevention of malnutrition,
detection and treatment of malnutrition, and demand creation for treatment
• Organize timely case finding (child with SAM/MAM) through peer referrals,
community outreach workers and volunteers, and passive case finding at
health facility
• Referral of acutely malnourished children identified for treatment
• Home visit follow-up and tracing of absences and defaulters.
• Home visits and follow-up of problem cases (non-responders)
• Design and pre-testing of IEC materials and message via selected
communication channels and involve the community members through the
process.
• Conduct social and behavior change communication (SBCC) on optimal
nutrition, IYCFP, hygiene and health to address the underlying causes of acute
malnutrition using different communication channels
• Provide group and individual counseling of caretakers at health facility or
community level on positive infant and child feeding practices and care,
hygiene and use of RUTF etc.
• Jointly develop the community mobilization action plan with the community
members and stakeholders in consultative process (see Action plan
development guidance note on CMN website)
• Clearly define role and responsibility of community actors including leaders
• Recruit, train and supervise community health workers or volunteers with
community figures participation
• Consider local norms and practices during the selection of outreach workers
or volunteers
• Manage and build capacity of community health workers and volunteers
• Provide regular technical support to outreach workers and volunteers
Strategy
9
Monitor, report and
evaluate the community
mobilization effort
10
Use mobile technology
and ICT for public health
Raise resources for
community mobilization
11
Description/Activities
• Decide in advance how the community mobilization framework is going to be
judged successful through not only tracking indicators but also tracking
activities
• Design process, input and outcome evaluations, and decide performance
indicators and how they will be collected. E.g., how many community
members have participated in each activity and whether the activity was
carried out as originally planned.
• Conduct an evaluation to help determine the outcome and impact of the
mobilization effort – that is, whether the mobilization was successful in
building leadership, shifting knowledge, perceptions and practices related to
health and nutrition in the community (e.g., increase coverage of service),
harnessing community buy-in.
• Evaluate the partnership by looking at the quality of the action plan, level of
member participation, collaboration of community members and local
stakeholders, perceived ownership and empowerment of members etc.
• Introduce reporting system for health facility, community committee,
community outreach workers and feedback mechanism on community
mobilization activities
• Use of appropriate information and communication technology to support
community mobilization activities where and when it is possible
• Raise funds, introduce creative financing and appropriate accountability
measures to encourage sustainability
• Advocate for the integration of community mobilization for CMAM program
into the local health system and its budget allocation.