Harmonizing IYCF approaches in Karamoja

Sample pages from the report

Client: UNICEF
Location: Uganda

The challenge

Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and nutrition interventions have been in the Karamoja region for 40 years and yet malnutrition in 0-5 years of age remains a stubborn challenge. The information, education and communication (IEC) efforts had not been coordinated among the many players, perhaps dampening their collective impact. The Karamoja Nutrition Programme aimed to harmonize the approach overall.

What we did

Picture Impact used a design thinking approach to address the lack of coordination and further investigate the state of IEC in Karamoja. Thorough quantitative and qualitative secondary data analysis combined nicely with field work to create a full picture. We used key informant interviews, gathered IEC materials, and a photowalk to document and understand existing development partners’ tools and approaches to IYCF.

The results

We created an IEC material toolkit to facilitate a minimum acceptable package of harmonized materials and supporting documentation (learning products) and an SBC Campaign Starter Guide for leaders in the area to use to generate support for such an approach and to shepherd next steps. Both pieces were supported by a rich report bringing together all of the learning—weaving together insights from our system mapping, a matrix of existing approaches, findings around breastfeeding and complementary feeding, and our own qualitative work.

Participatory synthesis and validation