The Community Livelihood Enhancement and Resilience (CLEAR) project is designed based on the principle of Community-Led Development to address poverty and promote nutrition in 7 target provinces of the Lao PDR.
The use of Multi-Media Peer Learning (MMPL) is not merely general video production, but a Strategic Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) approach. It helps break down cultural barriers and builds trust through “voices from the community itself.”
This MMPL strategy is directly aligned with the Project Development Objective (PDO), particularly Indicator 4: Increasing the proportion of children aged 6–23 months who consume at least 5 out of 8 recommended food groups. By focusing on the first 1,000 days of life, MMPL serves as the main mechanism to transform technical knowledge such as the preparation of Pre-mix supplementary food and the establishment of Home Nutrition Gardens into practical, relatable stories that fit the real context of rural villages.
Target Group and Stakeholder
In SBCC work, defining target groups must consider Key Influencers to ensure that nutrition messages lead to real behavioral change at the household level.
Level | Target Audience | Strategic Role and Impact |
Primary Audience | Mothers in Community Nutrition Groups (CNG) and their husbands | Emphasize spousal communication to promote shared and inclusive family care |
Secondary Audience | Grandparents and members of Self-Help Groups (SHG) | Address intergenerational influence and break food taboos |
The main challenge in Laos is the language barrier and cultural beliefs among non-Lao-Tai ethnic groups. MMPL will create a turning point by featuring “elderly mothers” and “husbands” as both viewers and participants in videos produced in their own local languages. This creates a culturally safe foundation that makes recommendations such as “Dads can do that” (fathers taking an active role in childcare) socially acceptable in rural communities.
Strategic Implementation Steps
To achieve the target of producing 7,560 video sets, the project has established a systematic 6-step implementation process as follows:
- Orientation: Young Nutrition Volunteers (NYGs) introduce the MMPL approach to CNG groups, with emphasis on building motivation and pride.
- Story Identification: CNG members jointly select success stories that offer practical solutions to problems.
- Technical Training: The Click team conducts a 3-day training for 3 village representatives per village on script development, filming, and editing using smartphones.
- Production & Follow-up: Communities produce actual videos, with the Click team providing 3 days of field support for monitoring, evaluation, and additional technical guidance.
- Dissemination: Videos are shared through the project’s Facebook Group and WhatsApp. Importantly, there must be cross-village video exchange (synergy), such as sharing with villages under the AFN project to create a broader learning network.
- Lesson Learned Workshop: Provincial-level workshops will be organized to evaluate results and select outstanding model videos.
Customization by Village Classification
Due to infrastructure limitations, the MMPL strategy must be adapted (technological adaptation) to suit local realities:
Infrastructure Condition | MMPL Implementation Approach (Strategic Adaptation) |
Has mobile signal & electricity (Type II, III) | Focus on community-led production and direct uploading to social media. |
Has signal but no electricity | Communities produce videos; NYGs/DNOs use long-life battery projectors for village screenings. |
No signal but has electricity | Communities produce videos; NYGs assist with downloading/uploading data when they travel to areas with signal. |
No signal & no electricity (Type I) | No community video production. Strategy shifts to NYGs bringing videos from other areas and other villages for screening using long-life battery projectors. |
To achieve the target of 7,560 videos, the project will apply an “Over-performance Strategy” encouraging villages in Type II and III to produce more than the target to compensate for Type I villages that cannot produce videos themselves due to technological constraints.
Quality Standards and Incentive Mechanism
To ensure sustainability and encourage participation, the project provides an incentive of 100,000 Kip per video, subject to the following quality control criteria:
– Must have a video script: To ensure content accuracy and proper storytelling sequence.
– Content: Must relate to nutrition activities (e.g., Pre-mix, nutrition gardens, maternal care).
– Format: Duration of 2–5 minutes and must include at least 1 interview.
– Technical Quality: Sound and interviews must match the visuals; must show Before & After behavioral change.
– Equipment: Provided projectors and speakers must include adapters/cables compatible with community phones for immediate playback.
Verification Process
Before payment, every video must be reviewed and approved by NYGs or District Nutrition Officers (DNOs) to confirm that the content matches the script and meets the technical standards.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Sustainability
The project will monitor progress through the MIS system using tablets for field data collection. KPIs will not only focus on the number of videos but will also include:
– Level of participation by non-Lao-Tai ethnic groups in both production and viewing.
– Changes in Indicator 4 (Dietary Diversity) among CNG groups using MMPL.
Exit Strategy
Sustainability will be achieved by building digital ownership within communities. At the end of the project, communities will receive projectors and speakers, along with skills that can be applied to other development activities.
“The power of MMPL lies not only in creating videos, but in creating a platform that allows communities to become the determinants of their own health and nutrition future through modern, accessible technology.”
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