The role of information, education and communication in the Malawi Social Action Fund

59457 Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published periodically by the Knowledge Learning Center on behalf of the Region. The Role of Information, Education and Communication in the Malawi Social Action Fund Objectives The Malawi Social Action Fund ( MASAF ), which began implementation in 1996, was proposed by the Government of Malawi as a quick-disbursing poverty alleviation facility that would be based on and respond to the needs and demands of the country’s poor rural communities. The country’s experience with self-help projects and programs to date had not been notably successful - this project was intended to herald a paradigm shift in this respect. It was designed to promote a change in the way all development actors, including, and perhaps, especially, the government, would work with other stakeholders. Communities were required to contribute up to 20% of total sub-project costs, in the form of cash, or labor or materials. Participation was therefore a key factor in the designing of the project. The Information, Education and Communication ( IEC ) component was primarily intended as a tool to generate support for and disseminate information about the project . However, it evolved and was shaped, as was the rest of the project and its actors, by the dynamics of project implementation. Impact • The various waves of IEC initiatives ( radio messages, posters, bus advertisements, interpersonal exchanges) established very clearly in the minds of prospective stakeholders the norms of the project, the roles they were expected to play and their attendant responsibilities. This gave very little opportunity for the concerned players to feign "unknowing" when they were called upon to participate in the project or failed to do so. • A very clear impact of the equitable access to information was the distinct change in the  attitude of poor communities towards both NGOs and the government’s district extension staff. With regard to the former, the communities made it clear that they were aware that NGOs were only one of the options they could utilize to help them in choosing, designing and implementing their project - they would make the decision. As regards the district administration, the attitude of the communities changed from passive acceptance of whatever was handed down to active participation in demanding, however politely, that the administration’s extension staff deliver their part of the bargain. In effect, power relationships began to be reshaped. • Within the community, where the elites had been generally unchallenged, free access to information about rights and responsibilities ( for example, the role of the project sub- committee) gave rise to pointed questions about the use of funds, the quality of materials purchased, the manner in which a contractor had been selected, etc.). Members of Parliament who attempted to influence procurement or contracting issues were, for the most part, kept at bay by the communities. • The fact that the project encouraged gender-focus was communicated widely - this helped women to insist that they should be part of project sub-committees and encouraged their active participation in influencing the decisions regarding the community’s priority needs. • The most significant impacts of this free flow of information, were better working relationships between stakeholders, and a new trust between these various actors. Adversarial relationships were replaced by growing respect. • Members of the community related to the experiences of other communities in similar situations through the medium of radio interviews or recorded playback on cassettes. Lessons Learned • An IEC campaign should precede project implementation to inform and shape opinion on project features. • An IEC component helps a great deal in moving from an asymmetrical information environment to a symmetrical one. In other words, when all stakeholders have more rather than less information, and this information is available more rather than less equitably, bargaining positions become clearer and power relationships tend to reformulate themselves. • It is important to have an IEC professional in the Project Management Unit ( or its equivalent ). The notion that "anyone can do IEC as it is merely a matter of common sense" was proven completely unfounded in the MASAF operation. • Training in IEC needs to be provided to the project’s first line of contact with communities, in this instance, the Zonal Officers, as they play a vital role in  disseminating and collecting information. • The first wave of messages must be clear and simple, and open to as little misinterpretation as possible. In MASAF, for example, while sub-project eligibility was explained clearly, the messages did not specify the kinds of sub-projects that the Fund would support. Subsequent attempts at clarification tended to affect credibility and raise suspicions about the bona fides of the project. • A communication initiative needs to follow up its first information campaign with a second wave of clarification . This becomes necessary because the first wave of information about the arrival of a project, especially a Social Fund, is almost immediately distorted by power players trying to maximize their role as intermediaries and purveyors of funds. • Never advertise if you have no confidence in delivering the product. Community faith in MASAF was high because, unlike most other projects, very little time elapsed between hearing about the project on the radio and their being contacted. • One of the best sources for an evolving IEC component is a Beneficiary Assessment. • Regular dissemination of project experiences helps to reinforce the politically non- partisan nature of the project, as it becomes clear that the sub-projects have responded to community demand and followed publicly-stated norms. • Documenting and disseminating the experiences of communities, in print and on the radio, tends to restore faith in one’s capacity to contribute to a solution, and to reinforce a sense of community between peoples across a country. Documents for further reference Staff Appraisal Report, No. 15345-MAI, Malawi Social Action Fund, 1996, World Bank, Washington, D.C. S. Kakhobwe, Information Systems, Outreach and Communication : The Case of MASAF, paper prepared for the International Workshop on Social Funds, May 27-30, 1997, Washington, D.C. MASAF, Beneficiary Assessment, Vols. 1 and 2, 1997, Project Management Unit, MASAF, Lilongwe, Malawi. Deepa Narayan and Katrinka Ebbe, Design of Social Funds : Participation, Demand Orientation and Local Organizational Capacity, Discussion Paper no. 375, World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1997. Social Action Funds and Social Programs : A Review of Design and Implementation in Sub- Saharan Africa, May 1998, World Bank, Washington, D.C. For more information on this specific study or copies, contact P.C. Mohan, Rm. J5-171, Knowledge, Management and Learning Center, World Bank, 1818 H St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433. Tel. (202) 473-41114 or email at: pmohan@worldbank.org