The co-design process in Mozambique began in June 2024 to refine and update intervention components.
The COHESION-I Project was initiated with a six-stage co-design process seeking to establish the specific characteristics of the project interventions in each of the countries involved. Initial ideas for the interventions were developed through a co-creation process conducted in selected communities between 2016 and 2020 (see here and here). However, since these ideas were discussed several years ago and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to revisit the communities to validate their relevance. Additionally, the specific delivery methods and content of the interventions needed to be jointly determined, as these aspects were not addressed previously. In our project, this process of refining the interventions through participatory workshops is referred to as the co-design process.
The COHESION-I Project is working in six communities in each of the following countries: Mozambique, Nepal, and Peru. In each country, two of these communities participated in the co-created activities implemented in the COHESION Project (2016-2020) and in the co-design activities that are currently under development, and two new communities with similar characteristics will also join the co-design workshops (read more here). However, co-design activities will not be conducted in the remaining two communities, as they will serve as the “usual care arm” and will not receive any intervention.
In Mozambique, co-creation activities were carried out in some communities. The co-design process in Mozambique began in June 2024, and it has as a main objective to present and discuss the interventions that were agreed upon in the co-creation processes years ago. The co-design process in Mozambique was developed in four health centers since the remaining two are for control. These four centers had two participatory workshops, one with the community members and the other one with the health workers.
Participants in the community workshops included members of the health committees, traditional healers, religious leaders, health activists, caregivers and family members of people with chronic conditions, people with chronic diseases, neighborhood leaders, teachers, and police officers. The co-design workshops with health workers had the participation of general physicians, nurses, pharmacy technicians, laboratory technicians, and health activists. During the co-design workshops, the communities proposed improvements to their local health systems, while health professionals provided crucial feedback and recommendations for the interventions.
The Mozambique research team is currently working on analyzing the co-design workshop transcripts and expects to complete the first phase of data analysis by September 2024.