I am an Epidemiologist and have worked with the Federal Ministry of Health in the following capacities:-
1. Scientific Officer for the Non-Communicable Diseases,
2. Focal Person for the PMTCT MIS with the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NASCP),
3. Head of Strategic Information (NASCP)
4. Head of National Health Management Information System, Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, (DHPRS
5. Head of the Research Division (DHPRS)
I currently work as the Senior Technical Specialist in the Global Fund RSSH Project with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS in Nigeria.
Nigeria
Emmanuel Abatta
Senior Technical Specialist
National Agency for the Control of AIDS
Posted on 30/10/2025
Communication is key to everday life but most time it is under estimated or neglected. This negligence eventually ruin the objective of the purpose. One of the best strategies to effective communicate of evaluation findings is to identify different stakeholders and suitable mean of reaching them at the planning phase of the evaluation. This is followed by allocating funds for the various various communication platforms. There is need to share information with various stakeholders on the purpose and benefits of the evaluation. This makes it easier for stakeholders to anticipate the results. Disseminating report is not adequate. There is need to prepare advocacy briefs for policy makers, use infographics to summarize the findings. In the recent time, the power of the social media cannot be ignored. Townhall meetings is also becoming very useful in sharing the evaluation imformation. Influencers and opinion leaders can also be engaged to discuss the ouput of the evaluation.
Major challenges involved in embedding communication in the planning phase is that most organisation are yet to embrace the dynamics of information and communication. They still believe that the traditional dissemniation of report is the best way. Secondly, communication is not cheap and in the situation where there is not adequate funding, the organisation may not want to factor communication at the planning stage. Thirdly, some people see evaluation as ticking of the boxes and as a result may deprioritize the communication. There are cases where external evaluators are brought for evaluation without collaboration with local experts. They may not be aware of the diversity of the stakeholders. This has been the major problem in the low income countries.
The engagement and collaboration with local staff will help to understand the cultural diversity of the stakeholders. This guide the design and communication strategies of the evaluation report and dissemination. Like in Nigeria, you will need to factor the cultural and ethnic diversity in order to effectively communicate the report of the evaluation. This means that from the planning stage, you need to engage locals who undertstand the diversity contexts.
Some of the low cost strategies to share results is the engagement of social media, newspapers and use of influencers or community leaders.
To better measure the effectiveness of our efforts, we can easily use online surveys to measure behavioural changes. Depending on the sector, routine data could demonstrate changes. We can also use social media to conduct opinion polls.