Improving health outcomes by strengthening public sector capacity in social and behaviour change programming in Nigeria: a qualitative study.

Objective: This paper examines the outcomes of the public sector capacity strengthening (PSCS) approach and how they contribute to the promotion of maternal, newborn, and child health, and nutrition (MNCH+N), family planning (FP) and malaria prevention-related outcomes.

Design: The qualitative study implemented from July to August of 2022 used the outcome harvesting methodology and key informant interviews to elicit information including most significant change (MSC) stories to evaluate project outcomes over 5 years (2017-2022).

Setting: The study was conducted in Sokoto, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Bauchi and Ebonyi states of Nigeria.

"Like a broom tied together": A qualitative exploration of social cohesion and its role in community capacity strengthening to support integrated health in Nigeria.

Social cohesion, broadly understood as the degree of connectedness, solidarity, and trust across various community groups and between individuals, is critical for community capacity. This paper examines social cohesion and its role in community capacity strengthening for sustaining integrated health gains in Nigeria. This study took place in the context of a mid-course qualitative evaluation of a Community Capacity Strengthening approach that focuses on engaging Ward Development Committees (WDC) to increase community agency, coordinate and support the ward-level health ecosystem and ensure sustained community-level activities supporting behaviour change for improved health outcomes.