Communication, facilitation, and negotiation skills are fundamental for frontline field staff to support effective behavior change during their day-to-day activities. During COVID-19 program adaptations, these skills are even more crucial to build trust and facilitate adoption of essential practices and behaviors.

USAID's Office of Food for Peace (FFP)-funded SCALE and PRO-WASH awards invite you to participate in an interactive webinar to dive into the Make Me a Change Agent: An SBC Resource for WASH, Agriculture, and Livelihoods Activities training manual, and discuss how these fundamental skills can improve your WASH, agriculture and livelihoods programming. This Make Me a Change Agent (MMCA) training manual—adapted from the original Make Me a Change Agent: A Multisectoral SBC Resource for Community Workers and Field Staff training guide, developed under the TOPS Program—builds the skills of community-level agriculture, livelihoods and WASH workers for them to promote behavior change.

During this participatory, 90-minute session you will learn about the guide’s contents, its importance in promoting behavior change at the community level, and key results from its use across multiple countries. During small breakout groups, you will dive deeper into how MMCA skills can be used in your work, and their applicability amidst COVID-19 programming adaptations. We invite you to come hear from training participants and co-facilitators, managers of FFP-funded programs, and USAID/BHA representatives, and engage with colleagues interested in bringing these critical skills into WASH, agriculture, and livelihoods programming.

If you are a WASH, Agriculture, Livelihoods or SBC field partner or technical staff, this webinar is for you!

Speakers

Brian Bacon, Acting Office Director, Office of Technical and Program Quality (TPQ), Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Brian is an international development professional with over twenty-five years’ experience supporting development and humanitarian initiatives worldwide. Brian’s almost two decades with USAID have included long-term positions in Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ghana, and Washington, DC, including assignments as Director with the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, as Senior Civilian Advisor with the Department of Defense at the Pentagon, and as Special Assistant to the USAID Acting Administrator.

Brian currently leads the Office of Technical and Program Quality (TPQ), responsible for ensuring high quality programmatic and technical leadership, oversight, and guidance across all dimensions of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). He previously served as the Division Chief of the Office of Food for Peace’s (FFP) Technical, Learning, and Planning Division (TLP), as well as FFP’s Acting Deputy Director. Prior to joining FFP, Brian was Senior Policy Advisor with USAID’s Bureau for Food Security (BFS). Brian began his international development career as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, with subsequent positions with international NGOs, the United Nations (Cambodia and Rwanda), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

He holds a Master of International Public Health (MPH) degree from Tulane University with a focus on food security and nutrition, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is a graduate of the National Security Executive Leadership Seminar (NSELS) and the Federal Executive Institute (FEI) Advanced Leader Program (ALP).

Abby Love, Agriculture Advisor, SCALE

Abby Love is an Agriculture Advisor at Mercy Corps working on the SCALE award, which focuses on agriculture and natural resource management capacity strengthening for USAID/FFP programs globally. Over the last year, Abby co-led the adaptation of the Make Me a Change Agent guide and co-facilitated trainings in the DRC, Bangladesh and Ethiopia. She has an MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a BSES in Environmental Economics and Management. Her favorite Make Me a Change Agent lesson is on effective facilitation.

Nicole Weber, Senior Specialist, PRO-WASH

Nicole Weber is the Capacity Strengthening and Learning Senior Specialist for PRO-WASH. She has been working in WASH and Global Health for 10 years supporting projects in both humanitarian and development settings. Over the past year, she facilitated the Make Me a Change Agent training in the DRC, Uganda, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. Previously, as a Hygiene and Behavior Change Program Manager in the DRC, she integrated many of the Make Me a Change Agent competencies into care group lessons, and hygiene promoter and staff trainings. Her favorite Make Me a Change Agent lesson is on storytelling and guided testimonials.

Moga Bedassa, Project Manager, Food for the Hungry Ethiopia

Moga Bedassa is a project manager at Food for the Hungry Ethiopia, working on integrated community development projects that focus on health, education, livelihoods and DRR. Over the last two years, Moga co-led translation of the Make Me a Change Agent English manual into Amharic and co-facilitated the training in parts of Ethiopia. He has an MS in the field of general public health. His favorite Make Me a Change Agent lesson is Behavior Change through Effective Communication.

Meraz Rahman, Head of Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation, SAPLING DFSA, Bangladesh

Meraz Rahman is the Head of Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) for the Sustainable Agriculture and Production Linked to Improved Nutrition Status, Resilience, and Gender Equity (SAPLING) project, a multi-sector Food for Peace Development Food Security Activity being implemented in the remote Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh by Helen Keller International. As head of CLA, Meraz is responsible for the CLA plan and engaging critical personnel and stakeholders in project learning and adaptation; assisting technical, administrative, and operational leads to implement CLA for all project areas, particularly those aimed at increasing nutrition, homestead food production and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI); collaborates to synthesize learnings from the M&E agenda to create social and behavior change materials and tools to improve nutrition and food security; and oversees collection and sharing of program innovations, lessons learned, and success stories. Meraz holds an MA in Applied Medical Anthropology and Graduate Public Health Certificate from New Mexico State University, USA. He also attended the Professional Development Programme for Gender Trainers organised jointly by UN Women and KIT Royal Tropical Institute in The Netherlands . He has facilitated several Make me a Change agent trainings.

Plus voices from MMCA participants and managers from FFP implementing partners.

Webinar Launch: Make Me a Change Agent