2017 ICT4D Conference

In 2016, Equal Access launched Change Starts at Home - a media and outreach intervention designed to prevent Intimate Partner Violence amongst married couples in Nepal. The project is ground-breaking in many ways, not least in its aim to challenge norms and behaviors related to sex, sexuality, gender identities, power and violence amongst couples in Nepal. Initiating national, community & intimate partner level discussions on these very sensitive issues through the media is a huge challenge in the Nepali context and has been a steep learning curve for the project, but one where our use of ICTs has been key.

Through our implementation of the Change Starts at Home project, we have found the use of ICTs has brought immense benefits in three key ways. The first is being responsive to listeners. With the changes in technology – including smart phones & IVR platforms – we are now able to get data directly from listeners in almost real time, rather than waiting weeks for handwritten letters or feedback forms to be sent back via any unreliable services. The second is creating space for listeners to anonymously engage with the issues. Through our IVR platform we get over 600 calls a month from listeners who participate in our polls and leave long form messages. The data derived through the platform is used to inform & improve our radio programs, driving the messaging & content of the episodes we produce and ensuring what we do is relevant and resonant. Through IVR & CommCare platforms we are able to constantly monitor both the impacts of the program, as well as any unintended consequences or ethical issues. As a couples based intervention that deals with IPV, it is essential that we know what is happening across our 72 listener groups in real time.

In this presentation, I will focus on the ICT tools that we are using to both engage with listeners and monitor the project’s progress and some concrete examples of the challenges and benefits of using ICTs to gather input from the targeted audience and other listeners of the program.