Interactive Mobile Support for Frontline Workers Promoting Breastfeeding

More than four million frontline workers (FLWs) serve over one billion of the world's poorest. FLW programs reach broadly over remote and underserved regions, and ensuring that workers have sufficient and consistent knowledge, skills, and support is challenging. Digital innovations that enhance and complement FLWs' knowledge have the potential to be highly cost-effective, scalable ways to improve infant and child wellbeing, especially when compared with traditional multi-day in-person training programs. To support FLWs to provide the most important information to new mothers during home visits, the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) has designed an app that draws from behavioral science techniques to prepare FLWs to talk about breastfeeding with their clients in a culturally sensitive way and help FLWs identify and address breastfeeding challenges. With support from the DIV Fund and other partners, CERP has partnered with Duke University, Aga Khan University, and the Punjab's Lady Health Worker (LHW) program to develop and test the app among users. App design is complete, and user testing is underway, including one-on-one and small group testing with FLWs and community members, followed by training and app testing with a larger number of randomly selected FLWs. Although the app is designed to be used by the 100,000 FLWs across Pakistan, the overall approach can be translated to other sectors, particularly where an intermediary aims to facilitate behavior change.