Co-creation in Mali
When the UNICEF Mali team in Kayes approached religious leaders about “co-creating” materials for promoting COVID vaccination, they didn’t call it “Human Centered Design” (HCD). Fancy names for human rights-based approaches to social and behavior change are often not needed.
What the UNICEF Mali Social and Behavior Change team was keen to explore were the experience and knowledge of local religious leaders. In a co-creation workshop, 40 religious leaders in Kayes (20 Muslim, 20 Christian), helped to pair COVID prevention measures with selected verses from the Koran and the Bible. The resulting resource was used by religious leaders when they addressed community members in Friday and Sunday services.
In addition to contributing to COVID prevention resources, religious leaders in Kayes invited Ministry of Health vaccination teams to set up in courtyards outside the mosques and churches of Kayes.
Religious leaders also joined together for a multi-faith radio broadcast, answering questions from listeners live on air, and urging community members to get vaccinated, and to encourage friends and family to join them in getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
On-site vaccination at the Catholic Church of Kayes helped fifty community members to be vaccinated against COVID in one morning. The on-site vaccination experience is now being replicated in other churches and mosques in Kayes.
Human rights based approaches are built on the idea that community members are potential contributors to every social change effort, rather than passive targets or “beneficiaries.”
Catholic church member Lucien had this to say: “At first I wasn’t sure about vaccination, but when I heard the sermon by Father Prosper, I was convinced.”
The religious leaders of Kayes are a good example of what happens when community leaders are involved at the very beginning of outreach efforts.
They have the ability to make a difference in the lives of the community members they engage with. They know the right words and the right verses and are able to share them in key places and moments.
We are grateful for the contributions to COVID vaccination efforts by Prosper Camara, Dramane Coulibaly, Joseph Diarra, Ismael Diakitié, Mme Catherine Traoré and members of the Haut Conseil Islamique de Kayes, representatives of the Diocèse du Centenaire de Kayes. UNICEF Kayes Zonal Office provided helpful coordination and technical support. This story is an excerpt from an article by young journalists Hawa Drame and Abdoulaye Makoro Diabate, with contributions and photos from UNICEF Kayes team member (and “Experimentation Grant” winner), Seydou Tangara. This effort also benefitted from technical support from Boureima Konate, Social and Behavior Change Team Lead and Hamadoun Ba, Chief of Kayes Zonal Office, UNICEF Mali.
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For more short essays on social change: See l’Exchange №2, and l’Exchange №3
