SKY Girls: a user-led girls' movement for tobacco prevention in sub-Saharan Africa

Summary:

SKY Girls is a preventative tobacco control programme aimed at teenage girls funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Launched in Botswana in 2014, and Ghana in 2017, one of the core tenets of the strategic approach which we developed following formative research was that the programme had to be by girls, for girls': the users should feel as though they contributed to and in some sense owned' the movement. We upweighted Facebook given its ability to act as a community for girls and foster interaction over one-way communication, and rolled out our tobacco messaging in a way that reflected choices around tobacco back to the community, rather than dictating them to it. We worked to ensure the programme was largely co-created from an early stage, and used the girls themselves to front the programme in so far as possible. We also set up a co-creation network to help give girls a voice in the overall development and direction of the movement. Impact evaluation conducted by Tulane School of Public Health demonstrated that exposure to SKY Girls was effective in reducing perceived pressure to smoke cigarettes, increased perceived ability of girls to make decisions for themselves, and fewer girls could justify their peers smoking shisha and cigarettes.

Background/Objectives:

SKY Girls is a preventative tobacco control programme aimed at teenage girls. One of the core tenets of the strategic approach which we developed following formative research was that the programme had to be by girls, for girls': the users should feel as though they contributed to and in some sense owned' the movement. This built from the research insight that for teen girls, their peers are the most important influence, and that messages which originate and fit within this context are the most impactful. The evidence for the user-led approach also came from the insight that girls need

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

The overarching strategic decision to make SKY Girls user-led and participatory was reflected in many other strategic decisions and approaches. It shaped our channel strategy: we upweighted Facebook to host a community for girls to share amongst themselves and foster interaction over one-way communication. It shaped the way we rolled out our tobacco messaging as we worked to make sure that we were reflecting choices around tobacco back to the community, rather than dictating them to it. It shaped our approach to content, as we worked to ensure it was largely co-created from an early stage. And it shaped our approach to the faces' of the movement (e.g. radio presenters), leading us to use the girls themselves in so far as possible. We also set up a co-creation network to help give girls a voice in the overall development and direction of the movement.

Results/Lessons Learned:

We have successfully built a user-led movement, which has been able to demonstrate significant impact on attitudes and behaviour, in a cost effective way, as shown by the evaluation conducted by the Tulane School of Public Health (to be published later this year). Preliminary results suggest exposure to SKY Girls was effective in reducing perceived pressure to smoke cigarettes, increased perceived ability of girls to make decisions for themselves, and fewer girls could justify their peers smoking shisha and cigarettes. The fact that SKY is user-led is a central part of the strategic approach that delivered this impact. The level of contribution and content we get from users has steadily increased, and the extent to which girls can shape the direction of the movement, in both micro and macro ways, has also increased throughout the programme evolution.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

The user-led approach which sits at the heart of SKY has been central to our strategy from the start, and is an important part of the way it creates impact amongst its target audience. It was borne from research, and played an important role in the formation of multiple other strands of our programme strategy and roll out plan. We believe that making a programme user-led is an important concept to consider in the development and roll out of social marketing and behaviour change programmes.

Abstract submitted by:

Jennifer Mitchell - Good Business
Larissa Persons - Good Business
Elle Brooks - The Dialogue Group
Gaone Manatong - The Dialogue Group