HPN SBCC Safollo Gatha 2016 held
A Health, Population and Nutrition SBCC Share Fair was branded as Safollo Gatha was held on March 24, 2016 in Dhaka to showcase the best practices for Health, Population and Nutrition (HPN) sector Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) in Bangladesh. Every year the Bangladesh Behavior Change Communication Working Group organize and host the Safollo Gatha event to showcase the best practices of member-organizations in HPN SBCC.
The Safollo Gatha 2016 was jointly inaugurated by Dr. Ehteshamul Haq Chowdhury, Director(Admin), DGHS; Dr. ABM Mujharul Islam, Director, IPHN & LD, NNS; Ms Sharifa Begum, Chief, BHE & LD, Health Education & Promotion; and Dr Md Sharif, Director MCH Services by cutting a ribbon and flying balloons thus unveiling the floral bouquet inscribed Safollo Gatha in Bangla. Around 180 people, including SBCC practitioners, policy-makers from government and nongovernment organizations, media professionals, and development partners attended the event.
This year the event featured twelve selected presentations from eleven members on successful HPN SBCC practices in an innovative and festive mood. The presenting organizations were (in order of presentations) MCH Unit DGFP, BCCP, NHSDP, SHIKHA, IPHN, IEM Unit DGFP, CBHC, SPRING, BKMI, BHE DGHS, SMC.
Besides enthusiastic presenters who were eager to share their piece on SBCC practices, the guests and audience were awaiting with more interest and excitement to learn some new and effective solutions to SBCC issues and problems. The presentation modes included role-play, enter-educate, drama, folk-songs and power point presentations. The participating organizations also had their nicely decorated stalls to provide additional information.
The shared successful interventions were selected following a set of criteria.
This was the second year of Safollo Gatha. The first one was held in March 2015 that created huge interest among the communication practitioners, policy-makers and development partners.
The Bangladesh Behavior Change Communication Working Group, a forum for harmonizing and coordinating HPN SBCC activities in Bangladesh, organized the event with technical assistance from BKMI. BKMI is a USAID-funded project jointly implemented by Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP).