Health and Family Welfare Department , Purulia
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE COMMUNICATION(BCC), PURULIA
Behaviour Change Communication (BCC), is a participatory technique of empowering communities by informing, educating and motivating them to adopt correct practices for the well being of the society in general and women and children in particular. The project was started in Purulia in July 2006 under the aegis of the District Magistrate, Purulia. The District Planning Officer (DPLO) is the Nodal Officer for the project and there is set ups at both district and block levels being directed by him towards monitoring and reporting of the activities. Presently the project is being actively executed in 12 Blocks of the district and other eight blocks are being inducted for in depth intervention from the year 2010. Presently the project is providing direct intervention to 1722 villages under 107 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in 12 blocks where the project is being implemented since its inception in July 2006, as an ongoing process. The interventions take place in two distinctive ways, viz. Interpersonal Communication (IPC) at the family level and Social Mobilisations of different kinds at the community level.
The main objective of this programme is to make people aware of five key behaviours and motivating them to adopt correct practices at family and community levels. The following are the Five key behaviours:
I. Washing hands with soap before eating food, after defecation and after cleaning of the child’s feces;
II. Feeding colostrums (local names - Gadhra doodh, Shaal doodh etc.) to the newborn within half an hour after birth and practising exclusive breasting feeding for first six months,
III. Sending girl child to the primary school at the age of five years and ensuring that they complete their primary education;
IV. Raising awareness of all adolescent males and females on HIV and AIDS, the causes of spreading the virus from person to person and measures of protection from this deadly infection; and
V. Motivating people to construct sanitary latrines at their residential premises and using the same.
Local Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Non-Government Organisation (NGOs) are responsible for executing the IPC and social mobilisation activities at the household and community levels respectively. Presently, a Purulia based NGO named Kalyan is implementing the project in 12 blocks. The NGO has human resources at district, block and GP levels.
BCC project has achieved many mile stones in its endeavour to bring changes in behaviour of the people of this district. More than 13 per cent of population have adopted practices of Handwashing with soap. About 85 per cent lactating mothers have either fed colostrums or have gained knowledge on the same. more than 350 dropped out girls have been brought back to the schools; more than 25 per cent people understood the causes of infection of HIV and the measures of protection thereof and more than 2000 names of the households have been collected who are willing to construct sanitary latrines at their residential premises. Considering the existing socio-economic scenario of the district the achievement is significant.
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Download MONTHY UPDATES
| July 2009 | August 2009 | September 2009 |
| October 2009 | November 2009 | December 2009 |
| January 2010 | February 2010 | March 2010 |
| April 2010 | May 2010 | June 2010 |
(Source: District Nodal Officer, BCC, Purulia)