It takes more than a village: The use of civil society partnerships to educate farmers and other hard-to-reach communities on avian influenza prevention and control in Southeast Asia

Effecting behavior change to prevent and control an emerging infectious disease such as avian influenza requires a multifaceted approach that includes collaboration and outreach to civil society organizations. Under a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development, AED used a variety of approaches to engage civil society in increasing awareness of avian influenza among small backyard farmers and their communities in three countries: Cambodia and Vietnam. In Laos, communities were reached by training the media (Lao Journalists Association members) to ensure factual, informative reporting of avian influenza. In Vietnam, women's unions were engaged to disseminate information to the most hard-to-reach communities. A series of planning workshops were held with Vietnam Women's Union representatives from all 64 provinces in Vietnam, and led to the development of educational booklets and leaflets; to the identification of demonstration sites (model farms) for applying biosecurity and hygiene measures; and to awareness-raising activities through VWU's clubs for women. In Cambodia, we worked with an agricultural organization to develop materials and messages on improving the management of backyard animal husbandry (with embedded messages on AI), and to train village promoters (model farmers who, in turn, share their AI knowledge with other farmers by organizing villager meetings). This presentation will highlight each of these civil society partnerships and address obstacles encountered as well as successes and lessons learned.