Every successful public health initiative begins with clear goals and strong partnerships. Our goal in implementing Nigeria’s HPV Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Learning Program is to empower health care workers and protect the health of adolescent girls across the country. Read on to follow our journey so far.
Securing Government Partnership
VillageReach engages with Kaduna state and LGA level leadership to ensure it is helping to meet NPHCDA goal and maintain alignment throughout the project. (Photo Credit: Dr. Olubusayo Nkemjika)
The first crucial step was to engage with the key government bodies responsible for health care at the national and state levels: the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the State Primary Health Care Development Agencies (SPHCDA). We shared our plan to increase the capacity of health care workers to deliver HPV vaccination through innovative P2P learning approaches.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Both the NPHCDA and SPHCDA recognized the program’s alignment with national and state strategies to improve HPV vaccination rates and readily agreed to provide their full support. This collaboration formed the bedrock upon which the work would be built.
VillageReach engages with Enugu SPCHDA to sensitize the team on the P2P learning program.
The Persona & Journey Map Workshop
With this vital government buy-in, we launched the first session of the P2P learning exchange: a virtual Persona and Journey Map workshop. This brought together program managers from the three Local Government Area (LGA) peer groups—Jemaa LGA and Sabon Gari LGA in Kaduna State, and Udenu LGA in Enugu State.
We dove into the human side of vaccination to achieve two key objectives:
- We identified and described the specific populations that are under-reached by HPV vaccination services or that face significant barriers to access.
- We developed realistic, detailed “personas”—portraits of the key individuals involved in the vaccination process—f or health workers, adolescent girls , their caregivers, and influential community and traditional leaders.
These invaluable insight into the challenges and opportunities on the ground paved the way for what came next.
Snapshot Virtual Workshop Presentation. Photo Credit: Tobi Bamiduro
Designing Solutions Together
An adolescent girl contributes her perspective on what solutions might be helpful in reaching others like her. Photo Credit: Tobi Bamiduro
Now, we were ready to enter perhaps the most critical phase: the Co-creation Workshop. This was an in-person, one-day event held in each of the three LGA peer groups.
This wasn’t a top-down meeting; it was a dynamic forum that brought all stakeholders to the same table. Health workers, caregivers, and community, religious and traditional leaders sat alongside adolescent girls to share their perspectives. The goal was to co-create and design tangible solutions that directly address the challenges identified during the persona workshop. The energy and collaborative spirit in these sessions were incredible.
Parents, community members, CHWs, and Health workers debate and align on priority HPV issues for reaching young girls, particularly those out of school. Photo Credit: Tobi Bamiduro
The Solution Planning Workshop
With a wealth of community-designed solutions in hand, we moved to the third phase: the Solution Planning workshop. This virtual session gathered the major LGA program managers, health workers and peer group members to transform the innovations of the co-creation workshop into a concrete strategy.
The outcome of this workshop was the development of a clear implementation plan for the prioritized solutions. This plan is not just a list of ideas; it includes a detailed budget and a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track our progress and measure our impact.
Snapshot of the Solution Planning Workshop
The Next Step: Implementation Begins
Our journey so far has been one of deep engagement, collaboration and careful planning. Now, with a strong government partnership, a deep understanding of our communities, a co-created plan in hand and clear goals always in mind we are ready for the next step.
We are excited to commence the implementation of these tailored solutions in each of the three LGA peer groups, turning months of planning into real-world action to protect the health of Nigeria’s future generations.