By Lola Seriki-Idahosa, Kaduna, NorthWest, Nigeria …Development Communications Network, DEVCOMS on Thursday engaged stakeholders, Journalists and bloggers in Kaduna on how to use their platform to promote Life Planning for Adolescent and Youths (LPAY) in the state.

The LPAY which was recently launched by the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) which is targeted at young persons and aimed at helping them plan their life for better future.

The call was made by a Kaduna based blogger, Miss Judith Caleb on behalf of DEVCOMS,

In a paper presentation, titled: ‘Practical Ways to Introducing Adolescents and Youth to Reproductive Health Information’, with a focus on utilising the social media at the one-day Media Round-table organised by DEVCOMS in Kaduna on Thursday August 9, 2019.

She said threads on Twitter can be used to deliver salient messages that can be life transforming.

“This can be done through sentences that explain the target topic, which others can connect to. When you use a thread, use a harsh tag. You can turn stories to threads and put on social media,” she said.

Miss Caleb explained that because most young people are on Facebook especially in Northern Nigeria, such messages can reach a wide audience.

“You can turn your threads into posts on Facebook by removing the harshtag.

“Videos are also very important. Everybody wants to watch, nobody wants to read anymore. You can do short videos, like 60 seconds that can also fit into Instagram,” she advised.

Speaking further, she said that “another thing we can do in Northern Nigeria is using a popular topic like Almajiri. We can use it to talk about LPAY. And it would attract a lot of interest.
“Pictures can also be used. When you post something with a picture it is captivating,” she added.

The presenter advised that in view of the need for confidentiality and anonymity, youth and adolescents can be encouraged to open up on issues bothering them through opening up of communication channels, where they would not be seen, but heard.

“We can make provisions for phone numbers where you can get feedback, where those who are going through problems can communicate anonymously, a lot of people can go through that to express themselves, ” he said.

She charged the participants to take advantage of designated world celebration days or youth day and other topics that are trending, by linking them to LPAY to get maximum impact.

“You can also use live videos for people to watch and learn,” she submitted.

The media round-table was organized by the Development Communications Network (DEVCOMS) on behalf of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiatives (NURHI).


https://tracereport.com.ng/2018/08/10/health-devcoms-engages-journalists-bloggers-in-promoting-lpay-on-social-media/