The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare assigned to the Population Foundation of India, the responsibility of developing innovative communication strategies for promotion of family planning in the eight EAG states. To develop a proposal on operationalising the Behaviour Change Communication strategy for effective change in reproductive and child health, in the EAG states, a preparatory study was carried out. The objectives of the study were (i) to understand the reasons/factors for EAG states’ lagging behind in Family Planning programme performance from a communication perspective (ii) to generate qualitative database for designing an innovative communication strategy for Family Planning through literature review, IEC material review and formative research (iii) to serve as an input for the Department of Family Welfare’s IEC/BCC vision and strategy under RCH-II in the EAG states. A round table meeting was organized in October 2004, at which key findings from the field in course of the study were presented and discussed.

A one-day national workshop on ‘Strategic Communication for Effective Change and Empowerment for Family Welfare and RCH in EAG States’ was organized in March 2005 to disseminate the findings of the study.

Based on the important suggestions made at the National Workshop and the recommendations that emerged out of the discussions at the workshop, a project proposal on innovative communication strategies for Family Welfare programmes in the EAG states was developed and submitted to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India.