Step 5: Define Your Activities

Section Progress:

Two men standing in front of a camel that is carrying packages of insecticide-treated nets for distribution. Photo Credit: Troy Beckman/USAID

To define your malaria activities, combine your organizational and community values, target audience, strengths and assets, and timeline. Use the worksheet below to:

  1. Name the group you have selected as your target audience.
  2. Review the toolkit’s Malaria Actions to Promote section. Choose the desired behavior you would like to promote for your target audience.
  3. Identify ways your selected behaviors align with your organization’s mission.
  4. Know how the behaviors align with your community’s values.
  5. Recognize the resources available to support the effort through your organization’s strengths and assets.

Example Activities Worksheet:

Girl Guides Activity Planning

Target Audience: Children under 18 years old

Desired Action: (Malaria prevention and treatment behavior)

Every household member should sleep under an insecticide-treated net (ITN) every night.

Points of alignment with organization’s mission:

Girl Guide motto: I promise that I will do my best: to serve God, to serve my country and other people, and to keep the Guide Law

Points of alignment with community values:

  • The community values work and takes pride in their productivity, malaria interrupts work and productivity.

  • The elders speak often about the importance of education, malaria prevents students from attending and doing well in school.

Facilitators: What makes it easy for this group to do or support this behavior?

Can your organization influence these factors?

(Yes or No)

If yes, how?

No parent wants their child to fall ill with malaria

Yes

Reiterate that it’s the parent’s responsibility to protect their children from malaria

Barriers: What makes it hard for this group to do or support this behavior?

Can your organization influence these factors?

(Yes or No)

If yes, how?

Some ITNs in houses are not hung

Yes

Door to door ITN hanging assistance

Key Promise/Benefit if this group changes their malaria behaviors

Do these benefits/promises fit with your organization’s teachings/mission?

(Yes or No)

If yes, how?

If your family sleeps under an ITN every night, they will miss less and school.

Yes

The Girl Guides serve their country and others who will benefit from better health.

Blank Example Activities Table: Word – (EN | FR | PT )

Blank Example Activities Table: PDF – (EN | FR | PT )

Next, describe the activities you will do in your communities to promote this behavior change. Plan concrete, doable actions that can help ensure your organization can enact the vision you have outlined. Make sure the timing of your activities aligns with malaria transmission in your area and takes into account other malaria activities taking place in your community.

Insert Malaria Opportunities into your Ongoing Activities:

The way you implement your social and behavior change activity will depend on your specific behaviors and target audience. This section has resources for promoting malaria prevention and treatment behaviors through key activities performed by community- and faith-based organizations. You can also adapt these resources for other activities carried out by you and your organization and based on your community’s needs.

Home Visits:

Your organization may already use home visits as a way to connect with your constituents and members of your community. Use these visits as an opportunity to talk with households about key malaria behaviors and support community members in the fight against malaria. For the key points for all of your activities, see the Actions to Promote section. Home visits can:

  • Increase knowledge about the malaria parasite, insecticide-treated nets, malaria symptoms, intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, testing, and treatment.
  • Change perceptions and beliefs and address rumors about malaria.
  • Increase demand for insecticide-treated nets, malaria testing, and treatment.
  • Improve acceptance and trust between families, communities, and the health system.
  • Understand patterns of community behavior and link households to existing resources in the community.

Sermons and Faith-Based Gatherings:

Religious gathering

Faith-based leaders and organizations hold unique positions as trusted resources in their communities. Sermons and other religious gatherings can serve as opportunities to provide important information to congregants and community members. For specific religious resources, visit the toolkit section Using Malaria Social and Behavior Change in Your Work.

Work with Schools and Children:

Your organization may also work with schools and children in your ongoing activities or have connections to teachers and educators. School children are a key group that can reduce the transmission of malaria. Children can also spread knowledge and encourage the practice of important malaria prevention and treatment behaviors within their families. Key messages to remember:

  • Untreated malaria cases can cause anemia in school children, making it difficult to concentrate and learn. Untreated malaria can lead to children missing school and affect school performance.
  • School children and teachers can be key malaria change agents within their households and communities.

Example Activities for Schools and School Children (adapted from Save the Children, Malaria Control in Schools in Mali ):

  • Classroom or After School Malaria Education: Sessions with school children can be coordinated with teachers during the school day as part of science or health lessons or after-school activities.
  • School Malaria Day: Organize this event to include the entire community, including students performing sketches, poems, songs and health workers or leaders demonstrating malaria prevention and treatment behaviors.
  • Youth and Sports Groups, Child Malaria Clubs: If your organization already works with extracurricular groups, this can be a great avenue for malaria education. School groups can also help in spreading the word about malaria prevention and treatment in communities.

Other Group Ideas:

The resources in this toolkit can be adapted to fit the needs of different groups in local communities. Some examples of other groups you may consider working with:

  • Women’s groups.
  • Microcredit groups.
  • Bible study groups.
  • Scout Sunday School.
  • Unions.
  • Madrasas.
  • Creches.
  • Village Health Committees.

Once you have decided on your activities, use the activity planning sheets below to plan.

Example Activity Planning Sheet:

Girl Guides Net Hanging Activity – Description (who, what, where, when)

Girl Guides will go door to door with hanging tools in their community to see if there are unhung insecticide-treated nets in the house. They will offer to assist in hanging the insecticide-treated nets and speak with the people in the home about why sleeping under insecticide-treated nets every night, all year long is important.

Task

Person Responsible

Resource Needs

Timeline

Collect hanging materials

Gloria

String, nails, hammers, tape

Two weeks before activity

Speak to community leaders to inform them of the activity and get their blessing

Girl Guide Leader

Time

ASAP

Arrange transportation for Girl Guides to arrive in the same area for the activity

Blessing

Volunteers to transport them

One week before activity

Create and print a script to keep the Girl Guides on message about why sleeping under ITNs every night is important

Sarah

Time; Internet to access the Key Actions portion of the Community and Faith Leader Malaria Toolkit

Two weeks before activity

Supervision of the entire activity including data collection and documentation

Girl Guide Leader

Time; Internet to access the Key Actions portion of the Community and Faith Leader Malaria Toolkit Activity Monitoring Sheets

Beginning to end

Blank Activity Planning Sheet: Word – (EN | FR | PT )

Blank Activity Planning Sheet: PDF – (EN | FR | PT )

For other guides and materials to adapt for your work, visit the toolkit section: Using Malaria Social and Behavior Change in Your Work: Additional Resources.

Want to Learn More?

Resources – Using Malaria SBC in Your Work