Bhalo Khabo Bhalo Thakbo (Eat Well Live Well)” Narrative Report
| Market Landscape Analysis of the Nutrition Products in Bangladesh and identifying intervention areas and approaches to increase nutrition in packaged foods. DataSense team at iSocial conducted a rapid market assessment in Dhaka, Sirajganj, Rangpur, Sherpur and Jashore. A Market Landscape Analysis report was produced for GAIN for working with manufacturers of packed foods. |
Project timeline:
| Jan, 2020- June, 2020 |
Partners:
| The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Bangladesh |
Project objective:
The project objective of the “Bhalo khabo bhalo thakbo” campaign, as outlined by iSocial and GAIN, was:
To spread the benefits of eating nutritious food among adolescents, who are considered future leaders, addressing the existing knowledge gap and promoting a correct approach to healthy diet, which is currently neglected.
Project outcome:
The campaign activities were executed in two distinct phases, necessitated by the global pandemic, achieving significant milestones despite the challenges.
Phase 1: Pre-Lockdown (February 2020 – April 2020)
- Volunteer and Focal Person Recruitment and Training: Volunteers from each district underwent 45-minute lesson plan training at HQ on February 2nd, 2020, to ensure a proper understanding of the campaign.
- Teacher Briefing and Training: Teachers from selected schools received a 45-minute lesson plan covering the campaign’s goals, agenda, and pledges, crucial for in-school implementation.
- HQ Team Field Visits: The HQ team, accompanied by GAIN, conducted field visits in Jessore to oversee activity implementation.
- Pledge Day Carnivals: Two major carnivals were successfully hosted:
- Holly Cross Girl’s School and College on February 27th, 2020.
- South Pont School and College on March 4th, 2020.
- Pledge Data Collection (Phase 1): A total of 35,969 pledges were collected by the iSocial team before the lockdown, with the report submitted to GAIN.
Phase 2: Post-Lockdown (May 2020 – June 2020)
- Pledge Data Collection (Phase 2): An additional 49,298 pledges were collected by the iSocial team, bringing the total to 85,267 pledges collected from adolescents throughout the entire project timeline (February 2020 – June 2020). This significantly contributed to achieving campaign goals.
- Alternative Strategy for COVID-19: To counter the effects of the pandemic, iSocial implemented an alternative strategy utilizing their field agents, known as Kallyani, who visited student homes to collect pledges, ensuring the team met targets.
- Online Campaign: iSocial maintained a consistent online campaign by sharing campaign posts on their official social media page throughout the project, effectively spreading awareness and gathering responses.
Locations the project served: Jessore
Impact:
Observed Impact and Recommendations for Future Initiatives:
Based on observations and close field experience, the iSocial team identifies several key recommendations to enhance the impact and reach of future campaigns:
- Positive Impact and Call for More Campaigns: The massive response clearly indicates a positive impact on the target group, validating the campaign’s approach. The team strongly recommends organizing more campaigns to further spread positivity and nutritional awareness across the country.
- Integrating Tangible Incentives: Offering a food basket containing nutritious food to students could significantly enhance the campaign’s objectives by creating a direct link between the message of healthy eating and tangible benefits, helping students internalize and relate to the recommended nutritious foods.
- Expanding Carnival Reach: The carnivals proved highly effective in generating significant responses. The current campaign’s focus on the capital limited their reach. The team recommends allocating more budget for carnivals in all districts covered by the project to maximize engagement and impact in a shorter timeframe.
- Enhancing Campaign Flexibility and Scope: The team recognized untapped potential for broader objective dissemination. Future campaigns should be planned with greater flexibility to allow for expanded reach and exploration of additional avenues, moving beyond current project limitations.
- Ensuring Comprehensive District Coverage: The campaign only reached selected unions within 14 districts, leaving a significant portion of the population unaware. To achieve a complete impact on selected districts, future campaigns must aim for more comprehensive coverage of habitats, ensuring that the nutrition awareness objective reaches a larger segment of the target population.
- Implementing Follow-up Activities: To ensure the long-term continuity and effectiveness of the nutritional awareness spread among school-going students, the team stresses the importance of follow-up activities. Post-outcome reviews are crucial to assess sustained practice and reinforce learned behaviors.
Report Link: 2020_Bhalo Khabo Bhalo Thakbo Final Narrative Report_GAIN