On the 30th of May 2022, Technical Advice Connect (TAConnect) organized and facilitated a Peer Learning workshop, with a focus on Group Antenatal Care (GANC), bringing together health professionals and relevant stakeholders from the federal and state ministries of health, Technical Assistance providers, service providers, and other industry experts working on Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, and Child Health in Nigeria to discuss and facilitate learning on the GANC Model-an alternative service delivery model where women join peer groups designed to provide all routine ANC services.
The workshop was organized to foster better understanding and collaboration among partners in a bid to enable learning from what has worked so far in the states that pioneered the implementation of the GANC, build collective knowledge, grow capacity, make progress, discuss, and proffer pragmatic solutions to identified challenges to scale up the GANC implementation to other states. TAConnect through its TA partners is providing TA support to states across Nigeria to adapt, adopt, and implement the Group Antenatal Care (G-ANC) as an alternate service delivery model.
Working with the State Ministries of Health (SMoH), State Primary Health Care Development Agencies (SPHCDAs), and Local Health Departments (LHDs), the goal of this support is to ensure G-ANC is adopted, implemented, and sustained as a health system intervention while serving as a platform to improve the uptake and quality of well-integrated RMNCH services. TAConnect has since its inception rolled out the G-ANC intervention in 7 states (Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Yobe, Borno, Niger, and Lagos), with implementation at different phases across these states and plans underway for the roll-out to additional states. While the adoption of G-ANC by the State as an alternative model of antenatal care service implies state-specific approaches, early results from states although depictive of significant achievements have also shown many issues and challenges are common to the implementation of G-ANC across states, geo-political zones, and tiers of facilities.
In line with its principles of being adaptive and iterative, TAConnect facilitated Peer Learning in a bid to continue to explore various means to generate evidence for learning and iteration throughout the implementation of its deployments for improved TA delivery, while capturing and disseminating key lessons to inform the improvements. With the G-ANC implementation at varying stages across 7 states and the planned roll-out to additional states, the peer learning workshop presented both a timely and useful opportunity for stakeholders to meet and share lessons, knowledge, and practice tinges on G-ANC and to identify concrete solutions to implementation challenges. The workshop also provided an opportunity for key stakeholders from all the participating states to learn first-hand about the various dynamics in the implementation of the G-ANC model. TAConnect adopted a methodology that led to the identification of key enabling conditions for sustainable GANC implementation.
The outcome of the workshop also served as a vintage learning experience for upcoming states to gain knowledge and implementation experience from pioneer states. No fewer than 69 participants attended the Peer Learning Workshop, across 10 states (Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, and Yobe states.) Significant deliberations at the Peer Learning revolved around four learning themes: data management, the fidelity of implementation, ownership and sustainability, Malaria in Pregnancy, and Malaria Surveillance. In the aftermath of the workshop, TA Connect continued to create virtual platforms and opportunities to facilitate information-sharing and strengthened peer-to-peer learning and networking among TA implementing partners.
