Monrovia – The official launch of the Big Belly Business program will celebrate the first pregnancy guide written in simple Liberian English, which is being distributed to 50,000 big belly women throughout the country.
The Big Belly Business book and the clubs formed around it which bring big belly women together in small groups, offer a new way of thinking about pregnancy as a learning opportunity that will help both children and parents.
An informed, confident parent can be her own, and her child’s best advocate for school, for health, for life.
The program builds the capacity of front-line health workers to provide accurate health information and empowering literacy education for expecting and new parents.
The book is filled with engaging stories written by members of the Liberian Association of Writers, along with evidence-based health information and wisdom collected from conversations with many Liberian men and women all over the country and from an advisory board of experts and leaders in health, education, gender and religion.
The book explains what will happen at ANC visits, ways to deal with the normal symptoms of big belly, how men and other family can support big belly women, how to have a healthy belly and what to expect at the midwife visit.
Funny and touching stories that talk about the chichipoley of family and belly in villages across the country keep readers engaged.
Renowned Liberian artist Chase Walker has made the book come alive by creating characters that accompany people throughout the book, many of whom “speak” about their big belly experience. An audio version of the book, with music, can be heard on the radio or downloaded and listened to on a phone.
The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is leading the pilot Big Belly Business program and 13 partner NGOs across the country are running it. In the last year, these organizations have brought together pregnant women, men and elders at over 100 Big Belly Clubs each week. The Big Belly clubs use the Big Belly Business book to find and discuss health information and stories.
A special group “framework” was developed to ensure everyone has a chance to share, write or draw their own story – and ask, and discuss their own questions about pregnancy – together deciding what they want for themselves, their families and their community.
Over 100 Liberians from NGOs across the country have been trained as Big Belly Sisters and Brothers. They include midwives, or Traditional Birth Attendants, educators, clinic staff and soon, some of the “graduates” of the Big Belly Club will become Big Belly Sisters because they have learned so much! Big Belly Sisters invite everyone to the club to talk, learn, laugh, and plan together for healthier pregnancies and safer deliveries.
Evaluation of the program is ongoing. Interviews with participants indicate people are learning and incorporating healthy behaviors.
Leyla Cooper lives in Bong County. Of her seven pregnancies, unfortunately only two children survive.
After attending the clubs, she says she has learned so much, including why and how to save money for delivery costs.
“I do not want this program to stop,” she says, “because the different thing is educating us to know we should take care of ourselves, how we should take care of our babies, and how our husbands should take care of us.
Some of us cannot read but they (Big Belly Sisters and Midwives) can. My husband reads the Big Belly book to me. Things cannot change in one day but small, small they are changing. So I thank you.”
Midwife Gracious Meapeh from the maternal waiting home run by Africare in Handii agrees.
“It was hard for us to get the pregnant women to come to the Maternal Waiting Home. We used to get about three to four persons – but now because of the Big Belly Club we get fifteen to eighteen a month – Since then we have not had any maternal deaths, “ she adds.
The Big Belly Business program began in June 2012 when former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the launch of the Women’s Health Innovation Program (WHIP), a small grants program that would support women’s learning and build the capacity of women focused NGOs in the country.
The program is a partnership of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and over 16 NGOs and government agencies in the US and Liberia, as well as 16 NGOs in Bangladesh who are part of the complementary Babu Barta (Baby News) program.
The WHIP partner grantees received Big Belly Books and materials, staff training, funding to run clubs and technical assistance for grant writing and reporting. The Big Belly Business team is based at OSIWA.
Partner agencies include: Alfalit, Africare, AfroMed, Hope For Women International, New Narratives, National Adult Education Association of Liberia (NEAL), Rescue Our People, Life Line Liberia, Lutheran Church of Liberia, Obaa’s Girls, Simply Put Media, Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund, THINK, Todhe Resource Center, Traditional Women United For Peace, United Church of the World, War Affected Women’s Educational Empowerment Program (WAWEEP),The What To Expect Foundation.
The second phase of the pilot will open the program materials and training to other NGOs interested in joining.
Save the Children has already become a new partner. The Big Belly team hopes to work with midwifery schools, hospitals and community health workers so they can best use the Big Belly book and framework during ANC and home visits to deliver respectful maternal care and education.
