Polio - what have we learned - Word of Mouth

In order to improve and accelerate development performance it is imperative that we learn from past and present development initiatives. One slice of development action in the past 30 years has been a massive effort to eradicate polio. In 1988, there were 365,000 cases of the wild polio virus; to date in 2018 there have been 18 cases of wild polio virus cases and 50 circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (CVDP) cases. Communication and community engagement strategies have been essential to the polio  eradication effort. Recently a group of organizations involved in polio communication and community engagement action gathered at MCSP to distill what they understand is the strategic and programming learning from that work. (Declaration: The Communication Initiative  was part of that group.)

That gathering produced the paper “Word of Mouth” for which the pdf link is here. “Word of Mouth” can also be reviewed online at this link where there is a table of contents for each section and the capacity to comment and critique on each part of the paper. (You can also reply by email to this message). We would very much welcome your additional ideas, comments and critique of this paper as an important part of the learning and sharing process.  A few opening questions if I may.

 
In the Background section of “Word of Mouth” do you agree or take issue with the observations concerning:

The priority LEARNING THEMES identified: (for example) “… How do we positively engage communities? … and… What elements of the local culture and prevalent social norms are getting in the way, and how can we address them?"

The observations on the reasons for, role and implications of the FUNDING levels for polio: (for example) “Engagement by Rotary International, a major civil society organization, with deep roots in the relevant funding and programming countries: and “Political engagement of governments, both those experiencing polio and those supporting polio action”.

From the Social Mobilization section how do you assess and critique the learning highlighted, for example:

 
Mapping: (for example) The process of mapping facilitates and accelerates social mobilization. Work took place with local people to draw block-by-block maps … (those) maps provide a tangible focal point for engaging people, not just in building the map but also in asking the important “why” questions for local analysis.

Negotiation: (for exmple) "The process of mobilizing the community is not a straight line. The CORE Group, for example, sometimes returned to the same home 20 to 30 times to answer questions before permission was granted to vaccinate the children with the polio vaccine. … interpersonal and negotiation skills are critical…" .

Thanks - please do comment and critique either by reply email or in the comments blocks provided at the links above. All contribiutions enhance all of our learning.