Monitoring and Evaluation of Cross Border Communication – South Asia (Nepal)

Funding Agency: USAID
Client: SRG Bangladesh Limited (SRGB)
Date:  Jun 2009 – Nov 2009

USAID was funding a major activity to conduct global behaviour change and communication activities on prevention and containment of H5N1 virus. The communication activities for this task were targeted to high-risk audiences, i.e., poultry transporters, egg and poultry market vendors, slaughterers and poultry processors, and poultry middle men that operated in markets in communities along the borders of India-Nepal and India-Bangladesh. The purpose of the cross-border communication was to reach these high risk audiences in their work place and through communication activities introduce them to best practices that would help reduce their risk of exposure to the H5N1 virus. AED, the manager of the USAID-funded task order, AI.COMM, would use communication activities to reach these audiences. Through a competitive bid process, AED selected the research firm SRG Bangladesh Limited (SRGB) OF Bangladesh to conduct a monitoring and evaluation activity to measure the impact of its communication social mobilization in these border communities. In addition to the social mobilization there would be street theatre, mass media (radio), and outreach and promotion all targeted to market vendors, poultry slaughterers and processors, poultry transporters and middlemen in the target communities. SRGB in return selected the research firm Total Management Services (TMS) of Nepal to support SRGB in undertaking the Nepal part of the Study.

Overall Services provided by firm:

The study proposed to undertake a series of intercepts among those audiences to determine the reach and if there is an increase in understanding on how to protect or prevent the spread of the H5N1 virus. The research requirement included:

1. TMS had customized the SRGB developed intercept questionnaires appropriate for the study sample (total 120 samples) which included open-ended and closed questions. The draft questionnaire was reviewed and approved by SRGB. It was translated into appropriate languages depending on site and back-translated into English;
2. The approved draft questionnaire was field tested through actual pilot interviews of wet market workers. The questionnaire was revised based on results of the pilot interviews. The final questionnaire (English and other versions) to be used for the interviews was approved by SRGB;
3. Using the final approved questionnaire, TMS conducted a total of 120 intercepts in selected areas of Nepal (in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Biratnagar with transporters, slaughterers, processors, middlemen, and market vendors and the consumers in the market that attend the street theatre.) Interviewers were trained during a two-day training on basic interviewing skills and ESOMAR Code of Conduct;
4. Following the interviews, TMS entered the data based on a data entry format to be provided by SRGB and submit the cleaned dataset to SRGB;

On completion of field work, TMS submitted a Methods Report in Microsoft Word format in English to SRGB. The methodological report included complete information on response rate and a full description of the sampling plan. It also included a full description of interviewer experiences while conducting the survey, any problems that were encountered and any other events that occurred during the field period that affected the findings.