Under the UNFPA's Increasing Male Involvement for RH through Effective Behavior Change Communication Strategies (RAS/5R/304), from 2004 to 2007, JOICFP visited Mongolia from 27th July to 13th August to provide BCC Approduction training, and to conduct documentation for DigiPlan archives.

Approduction training

Project managers

Twenty-one project managers from UNFPA, the National Center for Health Development (NCHD) Ministry of Health (MOH), ESS TV Studio MOH, and Mongol Vision took part. The participants were taught practical approaches to implementing BCC interventions, with special focus on communicating emotions and creating options.

Previous activities in information, education and communication (IEC) tended to emphasize correct health knowledge, but BCC recognizes that there needs to be an emotional component to education in order to motivate target groups, and that these groups need to be presented with meaningful health options as well.

Instead of taking an authoritative approach to health care, people need to be treated as 'customers' and health is marketed so that target groups want to choose healthy behavior.

All the participants were delighted with the training, commenting that they had never received such practical training before, and requested further training in the future.

Yoshino asks questions during
the Approduction session for BCC project managers

Technical staff

Audio-visual staff from ESS TV Studio, and managerial staff from the Health Promotion Department of NCHD, MOH learned about developing shooting scenarios, and as a result of the training produced a scenario for a one-minute video clip to promote male involvement in reproductive health.

Although ESS staff are technically capable, their experience had been limited to journalistic production and not the drama-based skills that are needed for successful BCC.

The trainees were very pleased with what they had learned and also requested further training.

Male involvement

Currently, under the above-mentioned project, baseline and behavior studies are on-going in the two project sites of Bayanzurkh and Songinokharhan Districts, Ulaanbaatar City. The objective of the surveys are to gather necessary data to measure the impact of interventions at the end of the project period, and to identify elements related to male behavior on reproductive health that will have impact on BCC interventions.

Discussions with NCHD showed that the final report on the baseline study will soon be complete, and this will be followed by the behavior study. It is expected that the results of the behavior study will be shared at a BCC Regional Workshop in November.

Process documentation

During the mission, the JOICFP and ESS TV Studio created a joint team to undertake audio-visual documentation activities for visual materials that describe Mongolia as a country, the reproductive health situation, and the project site under the male involvement project.

The team shot on location in Ulaanbaatar City, Middle Gobi and Kharkhorin Areas. Utilizing both still-photo and video, they documented life in nomadic areas, focusing on reproductive health care as well as activities in the project site.

On location shooting:
a scene where health staff visit a pregnant woman

On location shooting:
goats are an integral part of the rural economy
in Mongolia

Future activities

Material gathered by JOICFP during the mission will be used to enhance the DigiPlan archive, and a short video is planned for the Regional Workshop.

Project activities under the Regional Project are expected to begin with a review of the BCC Strategic Framework reflecting outcomes of the baseline and behavior studies, followed by an advocacy meeting to raise awareness on male involvement.

During the on location shooting,
the team traveled over 1,200 kms in seven days