UNICEF is one of the lead international agencies in promoting and using communication for development (C4D) as a cross-cutting programme strategy to drive positive behavioural and social change for children and their families. It applies C4D across a variety of sector-specific issues, such as ending open defecation, polio elimination, promoting breastfeeding for the prevention of HIV and AIDS, health/hygiene promotion notably handwashing, and communicating with disaster-affected communities in humanitarian emergencies. Most recently, C4D was integral to the response to the Ebola and Zika outbreaks.
In recognition of the importance of C4D, UNICEF made the decision to bring in Itad as an independent evaluator of C4D to:
- Assess the effectiveness, relevance and efficiency of initiatives that have sought to build organisational and individual capacities for C4D
- Assess the extent to which C4D has been effectively mainstreamed within UNICEF’s policies, programmes and practices at all levels
- Assess the quality of the design and implementation of C4D programmes at the country level
- Undertake an evaluability assessment of UNICEF’s C4D programming and providing design options for how best to evaluate the developmental outcomes and impacts achieved through C4D.
- Provide conclusions and recommendations on how management at UNICEF can institutionalise C4D further in its policies, programmes and practices
You can read the findings in the full report, here.
