[Fellow MDP student] Blaire and I worked on separate projects with our partner NGO. I conducted a rapid assessment of Sure Start, a multi-pronged maternal and neonatal health project implemented by SNEHA from 2007-2011. I assessed an aspect of Sure Start called Behavior Change and Communication (BCC). Pregnant women in the slums of Mumbai's N-Ward were given monthly home-visits by a designated community organizer in their area. Each home-visit focused on a topic that was relevant to the mother's and baby's health for each trimester. The topics included nutrition, danger signs, birth preparedness plan, regular check-ups, essential medication and supplements, etc. I conducted in-depth interviews with 9 beneficiaries and 5 community organizers to assess the success and limitations of the BCC initiative, mainly to what extent were the beneficiaries' belief and behavior changed as a result of BCC.
Angelina T. Nguyen
Master of Development Practice Candidate 2012
President, Humphrey Student of Color Association
Finance Chair, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Development
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
From Blaire Molitor:
The organization Angelina Nguyen and I worked for was SNEHA, the Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA) http://www.snehamumbai.org/
For my project, I completed a qualitative assessment of SNEHA's community volunteers, members of the target community associated with implementing initiatives on the ground, reflecting the organization's mission of developing, "sustainable and replicable models of intervention and partnerships that empower women to change their lives and those around them."
After 16 in-depth interviews with community volunteers across all of SNEHA's projects, the final presentation and report contained:
An overall profile of SNEHA's volunteers: which of SNEHA's projects utilize volunteers and in what capacity.
A descriptive account of the personal journey of some of the volunteers: In what ways (if any) have their lives been affected by their participation as volunteers with SNEHA.
