The Nigerian health system faces complex challenges, as a high disease burden – particularly from communicable diseases – coincides with limited resources and inadequate infrastructure, while access to healthcare is often severely restricted, especially for low-income populations and in rural regions. In such contexts, linear and purely top-down approaches are often insufficient. Participatory and systemic strategies, by contrast, make it possible to involve health workers, communities, experts, and local decision-makers actively in the planning and implementation of activities, and in jointly developing innovative, context-appropriate, and broadly supported solutions.
Within the NiCaDe IPC project, fourteen Nigerian health professionals and educators were trained as “PALS Multiplicators” in participatory and systemic strategies. PALS – Participatory Approach to Learning in Systems is a methodological approach in which stakeholders jointly analyse problems and interconnections, make causalities visible, and develop collective solutions to enable sustainable change.
PALS Multiplicators have a deep theoretical understanding, excellent practical competencies, and hands-on experience in applying PALS. Over the course of their one and a half-year training programme, PALS was applied across different thematic areas and settings:
Picture title: PALS Multiplicators and the NiCaDe-IPC project team at the Training Closing Ceremony.