online training white rice PV MSC

Project Spotlight: Online training for White Rice Communications in Pakistan

In 2018, behavioural change experts White Rice Communications used participatory video and most significant change (PVMSC) techniques to review a maternal and child health behavior intervention in Pakistan. They involved 11,000 women in the review process. Here, we describe InsightShare’s online training that led to this wide-reaching and illuminating review, and how the PVMSC method amplified the project’s impact. 


What was the project being reviewed?

The UN Maternal and Child Stunting Reduction Programme focuses on reducing stunting in newborn children in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The programme supports the provincial government by focussing on nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) activities, safe water supply, and social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) interventions.

Who were the partners?

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), White Rice Communications, HANDS, and InsightShare. The UN Maternal and Child Stunting Reduction Programme was funded by USAID.

What was InsightShare’s role?

InsightShare worked with partners to review the UN Maternal and Child Stunting Reduction Programme using participatory video and most significant change (PVMSC) techniques. 

We delivered online training and coaching to facilitate partners in their qualitative assessment of the outcome of a 2017-18 campaign in Sindh province to promote behaviours that prevent stunting in children. The technique was also used as a platform to generate dialogue in the community and reinforce key messages of the campaign.


“It has been a wonderful experience working with InsightShare…Without InsightShare’s guidance and mentoring we would have not been able to achieve such a large scale intervention and manage to collect thousands of change stories.”

– Raheel Waqar, CEO White Rice Communications. Online training for White Rice Communications and UNICEF Pakistan


What did the process involve?

InsightShare delivered a series of online trainings for UNICEF Pakistan and White Rice Communications staff. This involved a series of live distance courses, online mentoring and coaching on the design and implementation of the PVMSC process locally. We supported the partners to create a unique PVMSC process and produced guidelines in English, Urdu and Sindhi languages.

What were the outcomes?

Using the processes and skills facilitated through InsightShare’s online training, White Rice Communications organised 450 story circles with 11,000 mothers, through which 3000 stories of change were heard. The members of the groups selected 400 of the stories as the most significant, and of those selected ten to be filmed by community members using participatory video techniques. Twelve community screenings were held. 

Why has PVMSC training been so valuable in this process?

InsightShare’s online training allowed project partners in Pakistan to add PVMSC skills to their toolkit.

In this project, PVMSC enabled the collection of valuable insights about the UN Maternal and Child Stunting Reduction Programme. What is more, it provided a valuable platform for mothers to be heard, share their personal experiences and learn from each other. 

By hearing other women’s stories, proven methods of stunning prevention gained credence and unreliable information and myths were dispelled.

In the group settings of the story circles, participants were able to communicate directly with figures of authority, such as some older women, and debate openly about some of the elders’ unproven ideas around nutrition, self, and child care. As such, the PVMSC process had “the indirect impact of slowly dismantling patriarchal familial structures that value the insights of elders (particularly, mothers-in-law) that also perpetuate misinformation and oppress mothers’/women’s autonomy in the household.”

The process not only allowed partners to assess the programmatic impact, gain new perspectives on behavioural issues and create change, but amplified the project’s impact by underpinning it with community solidarity. 

 

 


‘The PVMSC methodology not only enabled the collection of insights regarding outcomes, but it also provided a valuable platform for mothers to share their experiences, advise others, and gain recognition.’

– Raheel Waqar, CEO, White Rice Communications, and Sarah Rathore


 

Are you interested in how InsightShare can help your organise reach more diverse voices? Explore our services here or contact us to discuss partnerships.

Find out more about how our network of Indigenous hubs are responding to the COVID-19 crisis here: COVID-19: Indigenous Insights.

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