Between 2012 and 2015, the Coverage Monitoring Network (CMN) supported over 200 coverage assessments globally and identified common boosters and barriers to access across CMAM services. In sum, these assessments revealed a weakness of service providers to implement the community component of CMAM, resulting in low levels of awareness regarding the acute malnutrition and the available treatment. In addition, the assessments showed that most barriers are linked with sociocultural factors, which can be easily addressed through community engagement.

As achieving and sustaining CMAM objectives depends heavily on successful engagement of communities and their support of CMAM programs in any context, CMN has committed to supporting partners in their endeavours by developing practical guidelines, which would demystify the community engagement and break it down into more manageable phases.

The technical brief, which you can download here, outlines objectives and components of each phase, acting as a handy checklist for partners to assess the extent and completeness of their community engagement strategies. More detailed guidelines for each phase will be published as independent but complementary modules very soon.

Following these guidelines will allow partners to better position themselves in their interactions with targeted communities as community engagement should not be understood as something done FOR the community but BY the community. In this way, the role of the implementing agency shifts from a more traditional service provider to that of a facilitator, who will guide and mentor communities as they make their way through this step-by-step process. As a result, communities will develop a strong sense of ownership of the program and contribute to resolving obstacles faced by their members when trying to access the services.

For more details, stay connected with CMN or email us at cmn@actionagainsthunger.org.uk.