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Schools may become involved in nutrition programs, disease prevention
strategies, violence prevention, vaccination programs, or addressing
environmental issues such as sanitation and water quality.
"The process not only forges consensus around the vision of
a health-promoting school, but identifies innovative solutions to
major challenges and concrete ways to implement them," says
Phyllis Scattergood, associate center director, Center to Promote
Health Through Schools and Communities at HHD, who, with Pulizzi,
conducted RAAPP trainings, data collection, and analysis in the
Nigerian cities of Lagos, Ibadan, and Abuja from August 26 through
Sept. 8, 2001.
RAAPP, which stands for Rapid
Assessment and Action Planning Process, is an outgrowth of "rapid
assessment" procedures that emerged in the 1970s as investigators
searched for efficient ways to plan agricultural improvements or
respond to natural disasters. Widely used in Africa, India, and
Latin America, rapid assessments are not only faster, less expensive
ways to gather data than conducting large-scale surveys, but their
customized design and involvement of local officials means the data
are more accepted by countries, and the findings are more likely
to be implemented and evaluated.
For example, a significant technique in RAAPP is to enlist local
field investigators in the design, wording, and conducting of surveys,
thus making sure the language and methods are relevant and sensitive
to a particular culture's needs.
RAAPP has also proven valuable in eliciting a range of qualitative
information and insights that do not generally surface from large-scale
quantitative surveys. Most important, rapid assessment is based
on the recognition that individuals at national, regional, and local
levels provide the most valuable knowledge of and insights into
a country's capacity, which is critical to effective planning.
HHD works with and is supported by the World Health Organization
(WHO) in implementing RAAPP, which is part of WHO's Mega
Country School Health Network. The Mega countries—the
world's 11 most populous nations—have formed a global network
to strengthen efforts that address the healthy development of young
people through schools.
RAAPP was first pilot-tested in Bolivia and Costa Rica in the late
1990s. The first full-scale application was conducted in Indonesia
in 1999-2000. The version implemented in Nigeria is a revised and
customized form of the one undertaken in Indonesia. HHD's goal is
to partner with other countries to customize RAAPP for their own
use.
Scattergood, who has worked extensively with the RAAPP in Indonesia,
points out that, "the core elements of the process— capacity
building, data collection, analysis, and action-planning methods-are
transferable to any setting or country, as long as country representatives
gain a sense of ownership by customizing the process to their own
needs."
As a result of the recent RAAPP training, a core team representing
the Nigerian Federal Ministries of Education and Health developed
a draft action plan, which was based on 27 interviews, an analysis
of surveys,and a focus on each of the five core national capacities
RAAPP is designed to assess and strengthen: policy, leadership and
management, knowledge base, collaboration, and monitoring and evaluation.
The plan calls for the development of:
A comprehensive school health policy at the national level, with
appropriate legal support, to guide the management of school health
programs;
A national focal body to coordinate and lead school health initiatives;
Increased participation opportunities for local representatives;
and
Monitoring and evaluation systems to continuously improve school
health programs in Nigeria.
Nigerian officials from the ministries of health and education are
in the process of implementing the plan, which is being monitored
by the WHO Nigeria office. |
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