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SINDH RURAL SUPPORT ORGANIZATION

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Sustaining Adolescent Participation in Community Institutions to Address Child Marriages and Create Awareness among Adolescents on COVID-19

comp-Sustaining Adolescent Participation in Community Institutions to Address Child Marriages and Create Awareness among Adolescents on COVID-19

Donor:  United Nations Children’s Fund and Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI)

Partners:  Rural Support Program Network (RSPN)

Districts: Kambar Shahdadkot, Kashmore-Kandhkot and Jacobabad

Duration: 02 Months

Objective:  The primary objective of this project is to mobilize caretakers to get their children aged 9 months to 15 years vaccinated against Measles and Rubella at the nearest fixed and outreach sites.

Major Activities:

  • Measles and Rubella (MR) are highly contagious viral diseases that affect susceptible individuals of all ages and remain one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among young children in Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan has planned to introduce the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine for children in the routine immunization schedule. The MR introduction campaign planned in November 2021 will target children from 9 months to less than 15 years of age and aims to reach out to 96 million children through Federal and Provincial EPIs. With our comparative advantage in C4D and as requested by the Federal EPI Pakistan, UNICEF will be leading the communications component of the MR campaign. To reach target children for measles vaccination mass level community mobilization and awareness about measles vaccination and its benefits is essential so that parents/caregivers are ready for vaccination of all eligible children during the MR campaign in November 2021.UNICEF is providing communication support to the Federal and Provincial Governments for successful community mobilization and community engagement for this MR campaign in November 2021.
  • Pre-campaign community awareness activities (1st October 2021- November 14, 2021) The following activities will be undertaken during the pre-campaign phase:
  1. Identification and meetings with the influencers including religious (male/female), political, Tribal/community, and include their names on micro-plans for MR Campaign.
  2. Orientation of LSO members/CRPs at Tehsil Levels.
  3. Awareness Sessions in Schools/Refusal Schools.
  4. Mobilise Market Committees/trade unions to create awareness about the MR campaign.
  5. Announcements in Mosques/Religious Places.
  6. Loudspeaker Announcements in Streets/Bazar.
  7. Awareness session at Community level:
  • Activities for MR Campaign days (15th November 2021 -27th November 2021)
For vaccination of eligible children during MR campaign dates, the Department of Health has deputed dedicated teams at fixed vaccination centers, outreach teams, and mobile vaccination teams. Each social mobilization team (SMT) will closely coordinate with all Union Council Medical Officers (UCMOs) of the Department of Health daily of all target UCs and will provide them support in addressing refusals and reaching out to hard-to-reach population for vaccination. SMTs will also closely coordinate with CRPs, LSO members, and key influencers whose names have been included in micro-plans and will encourage them to provide all required community-level support to outreach teams to gather all eligible children for MR Vaccination.
  • Post Campaign Activities:

District teams will participate in post-campaign meetings at the District and Tehsils level. These meetings will serve the purpose of identifying the gaps in campaigns and also identify the number of children who missed out. Plans for catch-up days will be developed and SMTs will provide community awareness and refusal addressal support for catch up days.