Vinh City: Innovation in population communication work

(Baonghean)Not only limited to talks on family planning, or distributing leaflets, or propaganda through the radio system, reporter conferences..., instead, there are skits, quizzes on population policy, club activities in the style of "slow and steady wins the race", both avoiding boredom and bringing practical results... That is the new way of doing things of Vinh City's population officers.

The hall of Quang Trung Ward People's Committee today was "heated up" by the exciting atmosphere of the contest "Understanding Population - Family Planning Policy" in the form of "Quiz with prizes". Questions about the Population Ordinance, new policies of the Party, State, or new directives, decisions, regulations of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee on population were "transformed" into fun quizzes, with rhymes and verses. The prize for a correct answer was an energy-saving compact light bulb. As soon as the MC finished reading the question, a series of arms were raised. To show that they were knowledgeable people, and to strive to win the prize for saving electricity for their families, everyone had been eager to find books to read, study documents, and leaflets that population officers had distributed earlier. Thanks to that, people's understanding of population policy was improved.



Skit participating in the Festival of grassroots population propagandists of Vinh City.
Photo: Thanh Hung

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong (Block 3, Quang Trung Ward) said: “To be honest, before, when I went to meetings and was given leaflets, documents, and policies, I just glanced at them and left them there, rarely reading them carefully or thinking about them. There was a quiz contest, which required reading, grasping, and understanding... Knowing the policies and guidelines, especially the new documents, and knowledge about reproductive health is really useful...”.

In Block 6, Le Loi Ward, for a long time now, every meeting of the "No Third Child" Club has been as joyful as a festival because of the special art program. Ms. Dang Thi Lap, who is both a population collaborator of the block and a director of skits, actors and singers in the art program, has transformed the dry story of "giving birth" into sweet folk songs, melodies or humorous, witty but meaningful plays. "People in the block participate in the activities first to meet each other to chat, share housework, then to enjoy the art, and through the art to understand more about the issues of "family planning", "improving population quality", "reproductive health care", Ms. Lap shared.

In Le Mao ward, the central area of ​​the city, the population is dense and there are many temporary residents, so to make communication work effective, the ward has established a mobile propaganda team coordinated by mass organizations. In addition to campaign communication campaigns, the team also directly goes to residential areas considered "hot spots" for population growth to propagate, distribute leaflets, provide instructions on contraceptive methods and distribute condoms... Ms. Tran Thi Sinh, a population specialist in Le Mao ward and head of the mobile propaganda team, said: "In the city, information is very diverse, so how to propagate so that people accept and absorb it is a difficult problem. Therefore, our mobile propaganda team must always be concerned with finding ways to approach. The target audience we aim for are residents and lodgers in the area; poor families with many children; couples of childbearing age with only one child... The propaganda methods are also always changing and diversifying... Thanks to that, for many years now, the rate of third births in the ward has gradually decreased; the population size is stable...".

Currently, 25/25 wards and communes of Vinh City have established mobile propaganda teams; in 2012, 147 communication sessions were organized, thousands of leaflets and posters were distributed. In addition to oral propaganda and dissemination of population policies, team members actively organized cultural exchanges and performed skits on the theme of "population growth and population imbalance at birth". In many localities, models of "Handing out marriage registration certificates associated with family planning consultation"; "Family of 4 standards" club model, "No third child" club... With efforts to innovate and diversify propaganda work, thoroughly disseminate the Party and State's policies on population/family planning, Vinh City strives to reduce the third child birth rate to 8% in 2013; Reduce the birth rate to 11.5%, maintain the replacement birth rate, increase the proportion of couples applying modern contraceptive methods, thereby improving population quality, limiting gender imbalance at birth...

Thanh Phuc