Year-End Update
As 2021 comes to an end, the Boost Community continues to offer several new initiatives, programs and opportunities for its members. Between August and December, Boost hosted nearly 40 live engagements and training sessions covering topics such as vaccination throughout the life course, responsive feedback and enhancing skills in immunization planning, implementation and monitoring.
There were several themes that emerged from these offerings, including vaccine acceptance and demand and continued community engagement to ensure a successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
“Health Care Workers have to keep their ears on the ground and try to understand the community members’ perspectives – ensuring everyone understands the benefits of the vaccine, therefore building vaccine acceptance.”
– Boost Member, Ghana
Boost initiatives such as the COVID-19 Listening and Learning podcast, part of our broader COVID-19 Listening and Learning Series, were developed to address these themes. The podcast provides insights from the frontlines of COVID-19 vaccine sites around the globe as well as feature experts to answer Boost Community’s questions on COVID-19 vaccines.
“Community engagement has been key to building and maintaining trust. It is important to develop the mindset of fighting COVID-19 as a community and not as an individual.”
– Boost Member, Sudan
Boost continues to be present on the global immunization stage, participating in several global and regional convenings. In addition, the Boost Community increased its membership by 18% from roughly 1,500 members in July to more than 1,800 members representing 133 countries in December. View our impact for 2021!
Elevating Boost Member Voices - Podcast Features
Boost Courses and Trainings
RED-QI Training Course: Enhancing Skills in Immunization Planning, Implementation – August 2021
Boost, in partnership with JSI, hosted a course on Enhancing Skills in Immunization Planning, Implementation and Monitoring, a four-part training that introduced tools and processes to improve facility and district-level implementation of the Reaching Every District Using Quality Improvement (RED-QI) strategy.
The course had 443 unique registrants, and 68 percent of those who registered for this series went on to attend at least one session of the series. As with many other Boost offerings, the majority of participants were at the sub-national and national levels of the system.
“It is not simply an issue of reaching every target population but being intentional. It’s about working within both covered populations and with populations that do not have access at all.”
-Course Participant
Life Course Immunization – September 2021
Boost and Bull City Learning held a 7-part learning series, starting in September, on Life Course Immunization (LCI) to introduce the topic to its members and guide them in developing their own LCI programs. The course was based on the Project ECHO model and centered around sharing best practices and using case-based learning – with each session focusing on a theme.
The course also featured Boost Community members Aanu’ Rotimi and Adunola Oyegoke as course co-facilitators! Of the 247 course registrants, 67% of individuals actively participated in the course by attending at least one session of the series. A total of 50 Boost Community members went on to complete the course.
Community Activation Dialogue Series – September 2021
In September, members of Boost’s Advanced Training for Community Activation hosted a 4-part dialogue series, the product of nearly four months of intensive workshops and small group meetings focused on community building and advocacy, which trained these individuals to become Boost Community Champions. The series consisted of:
- Harnessing Public Narrative to Enhance Peer Learning & Leadership in the Immunization Ecosystem. Watch the recording
- Community Activation in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic: Using community engagement to tackle COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Watch the recording
- Addressing Challenges of Low Coverage through Community Activation. Watch the recording
- The Road to Vaccine Acceptance: Where is the voice of the community? Watch the recording
Adaptive Leadership Train-the-Trainer Workshop – September 2021
Boost partnered with Adaptive Change Advisors, to offer a 3-day workshop on Adaptive Leadership Train-The-Trainer Workshop in September. This course was designed for a small cohort of sub-national and national immunization professionals who have previously taken a Boost Adaptive Leadership training. A total of 19 Boost members completed the training.
Storytelling for Change (Round 2) – September to October 2021
As a follow-up to the first round in January 2021, Boost, in partnership with People Power Health, once again offered the self-paced course, Storytelling for Change, through a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called EdApp in September. The course aimed to provide further opportunities for immunization professionals to learn new skills to generate public emotion, values and action.
The course was open to any immunization professional or health care professional who was or is responsible for engaging with different stakeholders. Of the 75 course registrants, 45% of accepted individuals actively participated in the course by accessing at least one module of the program. A total of 14 Boost Community members went on to complete the course. A survey was conducted to measure the overall impact of the course – 100% of survey respondents indicated that their perception of storytelling changed:
“I always thought storytelling was for the literary domain or for entertainment, especially for children. But this took a serious shift, when I realized it was a relevant tool to orchestrate change.”
-Course Participant, Ghana
Responsive Feedback – October 2021
Boost, in partnership with The Curve, hosted a training on the Responsive Feedback approach with a group of immunization professionals in an interactive training in October. As this training approach was implemented, live feedback was solicited as the trainees tried out the tools and approaches in real time.
Prior to the training, a Responsive Feedback webinar was held In August to introduce the topic to members and promote the training. Of the 142 training course registrants, 67% of individuals actively participated in the training by attending at least one session of the series. A total of 32 Boost Community members went on to complete the training.
Boosting Leadership to Activate Communities (Round 2) – November 2021
In November, the Boost Community, in partnership with Adaptive Change Advisors and People Power Health offered the Boosting Leadership to Activate Communities course. This introductory level course in adaptive leadership and community organizing offered immunization and other health care professionals new approaches to lead and drive health promotion initiatives and projects.