Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:
1) List a limited number (4 to 7) of the most common breastfeeding difficulties that the targeted women experience and the project helped / will help address. If you conduct a baseline survey and you do not know yet what the most common difficulties are, you first have to identify them through conducting several key informant interviews with the local health workers and focus group discussions with targeted women. This is essential for ensuring that the survey covers the key breastfeeding difficulties local women experience.
2) Define how many difficulties a respondent needs to know how to address to be considered as “knowing how to address the most common breastfeeding difficulties” - for example, at least 4 out of 6 difficulties (ensure that the baseline and endline surveys use the same benchmark – e.g. always 4 out of 6 difficulties)
3) Conduct interviews with a representative sample of the targeted women, asking simple questions about the respondents’ knowledge of how to deal with each of the breastfeeding difficulties listed in point 1 (that the project addressed / plans to address).
EXAMPLE OF SURVEY QUESTION AND ANSWERS:
Q1: In your opinion, if a woman has a baby that is being breastfed but her nipples hurt because they are cracked, what is the best way how she can address this problem? (keep probing: “What else can she do?”)
A1:
1) the provided solution was correct and adequate
2) the provided solution was NOT correct or adequate
3) no solution was provided
4) Count the number of respondents who knew how to address at least the minimum number of the most common breastfeeding difficulties (e.g. at least 4 out of 6 difficulties).
5) To calculate the indicator’s value:
- Divide the number of respondents knowing how to address at least the minimum number of the most common breastfeeding difficulties by the total number of respondents
- Multiply the resulting number by 100 to convert it to a percentage
- Multiply the percentage by the total number of the target group members
- The resulting number is the “number of women of reproductive age who know how to address the most common breastfeeding difficulties”
See example: 175 respondents knowing how to address the most common breastfeeding difficulties divided by a total of 350 interviewed respondents equals 0.5. This multiplied by 100 equals 50%. If the total number of the targeted women is 6,000, then 50% out of 6,000 women equals to 3,000 women knowing how to address the most common breastfeeding difficulties.