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For us, allowing the stakeholders especially the community stakeholders to be greatly involved in decisions regarding place/time of meeting greatly helped reduce cost and yielded increased participation. The increased participation helped reduce associated followup cost.
I am currently involved in a maternal and child health education intervention in slum communities in Nigeria. Our research team works with scientists including medical doctors, public health specialists, child psychologist, nutritionists, nurses etc. as well as non scientists such as traditional birth attendants, government officials, media personnel, traditional rulers and others that have high influence on the outcome of the intervention. Though their inputs came at various stages but are relevant to a successful implementation. Engaging meaningfully other scientists offers wide approach to tackling issues/challenges, eliminates ”closed thinking” and gives room to think outside the box and have a balanced conclusion. The challenge is identifying and prioritizing their relevance and dealing with conflict of interest.
Stakeholders understanding and support is ensured by identifying key influencers in the community who can help drive the overall goal of the research. Also, involving them in decision making gives a sense of ownership of the research, thus encourages their participation. We are doing well in identifying key influencial stakeholders. However, major short comings are in sustaining their involvement. Over time begin to have reduced interest. I think continuous and sustained follow up can help overcome this challenges.
The importance of social media as a communication tool especially in stakeholders engagement cannot be overemphasized. We engage several stakeholders at several stages of the research process. WhatsApp and facebook have been particularly helpful in having online meetings and group discussions. Communication can be done at using social media at minimal cost. Howewer, network problems have always been a major drawback.
Great ideas! However, there could be challenges with the strategy of approaching existing government programs… Some communities in developing countries often have trust issues with some government programs especially those that have long history of lack of basic amenities. Often, they are of the opinion that government programs are of no benefits. For this strategy to be effective, i think one has to have in-depth understanding of the community.
No amount of resources would be sufficient to carryout research if not well managed. So when faced with challenges of insufficient resources, as researcher, we make use of strategies that are effective and of minimal cost. These include:
Targeted periodic meetings with stakeholders by making use of established forums and networks within the community
Identify and collaborate with other local partners who have similar interestI quite agree with Kelvin. The program is very informative and facilitates deep understanding of issues of interest. It helps synergies theory and good practice.
A clear understanding of the ultimate goal of a project by leadership and team members is critical in identifying key stakeholders, their roles and engagement in achieving a successful project. Stakeholder engagement isn’t a onetime event but an ongoing process. Activities like training, Focus Group Discussions etc in an enabling environment with effective feedback mechanism that allows room for improvement and encourage contributions is required in achieving successful stakeholders engagement and its values.
For instance, during the last year, trained community stakeholders were allowed to participate in training, sensitization, recruitment activities etc. These help us ascertain the depth of their knowledge, spark creativity and foster community ownership of implemented project.HI everyone, this is Orobosa Enadeghe from Nigeria. Orobosa is an epidemiologist and an active volunteer in a plethora of non-governmental organisations. He has over 7 years experience in implementing health projects targeted to youth and women in underserved rural communities in Nigeria in the area of sexual health, behavioural change communication and maternal and child health. He is a 2016 Fellow at the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI) and with grant support from the United State Government, he co-implements ‘AWOYE Initiative’- a maternal and under-5 health intervention to educate pregnant women/caregivers of under-5 children in slum communities in Nigeria.
As a LeNNiB (Leaving No Nigerian Behind) champion, he currently undergoes a mentorship programme organized by NAHVMAS, AVAC & CASPER. This program in line with his community works prompted him to apply for the GPP online training. He looks forward to advancing his knowledge through this platform.
Orobosa holds MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Ibadan and BSc (Hons.) Microbiology from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
