When Help a Mother and Newborn Initiative (HMNI) launched the EchoChange Project –Strengthening Communities’ Understanding of the Public Health Bill in May 2025, one thing was clear: conversations about health, rights, and laws in Liberia could no longer happen without the people most affected.
Over the past months, women, youth,
and religious and traditional leaders
from five communities have moved
from: “This is the first time I’m hearing
about this law” to: We are ready to talk to our neighbors and lawmakers about it.”
EchoChange was created to make that
shift possible.
Project Purpose: Turning Confusion
into Collective Voice. For years, discussions around Liberia’s
revised Public Health Bill—especially
the parts related to sexual and
reproductive health and rights (SRHR),
including abortion—have been
dominated by fear, misinformation, and stigma.
In many communities:
● People had little or no accurate
information about the Public Health
Bill.
● Most had only heard rumors
framed around “abortion” and “sin.”
● Few saw the Bill as something that
could protect their health and dignity.
At the same time, unsafe abortion
remains a major cause of maternal
deaths in Liberia. Many women and
girls are suffering in silence, while
communities are left out of critical
policy conversations taking place in
Monrovia.
EchoChange set out to change that:
The project’s purpose was simple but
powerful: To help communities understand the Public Health Bill, build their confidence to talk about health and
rights, and support them to become
informed advocates for its passage.
Before the project, most people in the
target communities had never seen or
heard the details of the Bill. Health
laws felt like something written “far
away,” with no clear link to everyday
life.
EchoChange began by asking:
“What would it looks like if
communities themselves understood
the law—and used it to demand
better health and protection?”
Community Impact: What Changed
on the Ground?
During this period, HMNI worked in
five communities across Montserrado
and Margibi Counties:
● Montserrado County: King Gray
and New Kru Town
● Margibi County: Floko’s Town,
Yarnwullie, and Weala
From “I never heard of it” to “I can
explain it”
Through the project:
● over 60 community representatives joined a public inception meeting in May 2025 to learn about the project and help
shape its design.
● In August 2025, HMNI hosted three
two-day strategic workshops with:
○ Women leaders
○ Youth representatives
○ Religious and traditional leaders
Participants explored:
What the Public Health Bill is?
● How it connects to SRHR, maternal
health, and public well-being
● The realities of unsafe abortion and
preventable maternal deaths
● How laws can protect, rather than only punish.
By the end of these sessions,
participants were:
● Explaining key parts of the Public
Health Bill in their own words
● Identifying myths and
misinformation circulating in their
communities
● Drafting community action plans
to speak with youth, women’s
groups, congregations,and local
authorities
one woman leader said:
“I didn’t know the law could protect
our health this way. Now I can go back
and explain it to other women so they’
re not afraid.”
Youth participants developed practical
plans to speak in schools, on football
fields, and through peer groups—spaces where rumors and stigma often
spread fastest.
From Project-Led to Community-
Led Advocacy:
over time, the project shifted from
HMNI leading the process to
communities taking ownership:
● Leaders in New Kru Town
recommended beginning work in
Block D to maximize local impact.
● Communities proposed larger
follow-up meetings to bring more
people into the conversation.
Participants requested ongoing
training and simpler, health-
focused language to help them
discuss the Bill confidently with
neighbors.
By late 2025, community-led dialogues
had started in all five locations,
supported by EchoChange- trained
advocates and youth from HMNI’s
SRHR Coach Masterclass.
These dialogues helped to:
● Normalize conversations about
SRHR and public health
● Build trust between communities
and local leaders
● Prepare the ground for policy
dialogues with lawmakers
Alongside this, the project launched
social media storytelling to highlight
community voices and is now
preparing radio talk shows to reach
even more people in local languages.
Personal Stories: Faces Behind the
Change:
Behind the numbers are real people
whose perspectives have shifted.
● A woman leader from Yarnwullie
shared that this was her first time
hearing about the revised Public Health Bill in a respectful and open way. She left
committed to “talking to the young
girls and mothers so they know
their rights and can make better
choices.”
● A youth participant from King Gray
explained how he and his peers
had heard only rumors:
“We have been listening to things that
are not true. Now we know the facts,
and we can explain them to our
friends.”
● Religious and traditional leaders—
often seen only as gatekeepers—
showed genuine openness to
learning and agreed to use health-
and dignity-focused messages
when speaking to their congregations.
These stories capture the heart of
EchoChange: not telling communities
what to think, but giving them tools
to think, question, and act for themselves.
Our Team’s Work: What Made the
Difference:
Several activities proved especially
impactful:
● The Project Launch / Inception
Meeting created space for civil
society, policymakers, and
community representatives to shape the approach together. Their
feedback pushed HMNI to:
○ Increase the number of community
representatives trained
○ Use more health- and rights-
focused framing instead of starting
with “abortion”
○ Shift towards a community-led
advocacy model
● The two-day strategic
conversations with women, youth,
and religious/traditional leaders
used:
○ Interactive exercises like the “Value
Game” and “Law or No Law ”
○ Group reflections on real
community cases
○ Simple, grounded language and
examples These methods helped
participants connect legal concepts
to everyday life.
The team also worked intentionally to
create safe spaces where people could
ask questions they had never voiced
publicly before.
Challenges – and How We
Responded
The project was not without
difficulties:
● Transport protests and high
transport costs made it hard for
some participants to attend
trainings.
● Some venues were noisy, distant,
or not fully accessible because of
budget limitations.
Scheduling and communication
gaps meant a few community
groups were underrepresented in certain sessions.
To respond, the team:
● Adjusted schedules and remained
flexible with timing.
● Strengthened communication with
community leaders to avoid
confusion about dates and
locations.
● Focused on maximizing the impact
of those who could attend by
equipping them as multipliers who
would share information and lead
conversations back home.
These experiences underscored a key
lesson: good content is not enough—
logistics,communication, and
flexibility are just as important for
meaningful participation.
Partnership and Support: We Didn’t Do this Alone EchoChange was made possible through funding from an anonymous donor, with additional financial and technical support from Global Fund for Children (GFC).
Several partners strengthened the
project:
● Women Wellbeing Initiative and
the Liberia Business Association
(LIBA) – supported logistics,
meeting venues, and coordination.
● Muslim Aid Liberia, Community
Healthcare Initiative (CHI), and
experienced SRHR Champions – co-
facilitated sessions and brought
grounded SRHR expertise.
● The Liberia Working Group on
Reproductive Health & Rights –
provided technical guidance on
legal literacy and ongoing advocacy.
HMNI also shared updates and lessons
at national coalition meetings,
ensuring that community voices from
EchoChange helped shape wider
advocacy around the Public Health Bill.
Lessons Learned:
What EchoChange Taught Us
Working through EchoChange has
given HMNI and its partners several
important lessons:
Community-led is more powerful
than organization-led.When
communities invite policymakers
and lead dialogues themselves, the
conversations feel more authentic
and are more likely to last.
● Language matters. Leading with
“abortion” alone can close doors
.
Framing the Bill around health,
safety,dignity, and family well-
being opens space for real
dialogue.
● Preparation and communication
are as important as content.Small
miscommunications around dates,
venues, or transport can exclude
the very voices that most need to
be heard.
● Partnership amplifies impact.
Working with women’s groups,
youth networks, religious leaders,
and national coalitions created a
stronger, more unified voice in
support of public health and SRHR.
● Flexibility is critical.
The team had
to adjust plans in response to
protests, budget constraints, and shifting realities—but the core vision remained the same.
Future Plans: Where EchoChange
Goes From Here?
EchoChange is not ending—it is
evolving. At the end of the project timeframe, HMNI and partners had already:
● Supported community-led dialogues in all five target communities, with trained local advocates and youth from the
SRHR Coach Masterclass guiding
conversations on health, rights, and
the Public Health Bill.
● Climaxed policy dialogues where
community representatives shared
their reflections and recommendations directly with lawmakers and local authorities.
● Implemented a two weeks social
media campaign and a community-led radio talk show to spread accurate, accessible information about the Public
Health Bill and the impact of
Echochange interventions to a wider audience.
The next steps will focus on:
● Sustaining community advocates
Continuing to support the women,
youth, and religious/traditional
leaders trained through
EchoChange so they remain active
voices for SRHR and public health
in their communities.
● Deepening policy engagement
Building on the first round of
policy dialogues to track
commitments, share community
feedback with decision-makers,
and keep the Public Health Bill on
the public agenda.
● Integrating EchoChange into
HMNI’s core programs Using tools,
stories, and learning from
EchoChange to strengthen the SRHR Coach Masterclass, Empower Her Journey, and Peer-to- Peer Clubs, ensuring that legal literacy remains a regular part of HMNI’s youth and mothers’ programming.
● Expanding reach through
partnerships Collaborating with
national coalitions and local
partners to bring community voices
into wider conversations on health
and rights.
● Mobilizing resources for scale and
continuity Working with allies and
donors to secure flexible funding
that allows EchoChange to reach
new communities and sustain the
grassroots advocates who are now
leading this work.
Call to Action: Where You Come In
EchoChange shows that when
communities understand the laws that
shape their lives, they can speak for
themselves—and demand better.
As you read this, we invite you to:
● Listen differently to conversations
about SRHR, abortion, and public
health in Liberia.Behind the
debates are real lives, families, and
futures.
● Stand with community
advocates—women, youth, and
religious leaders—who are doing
the hard work of changing minds
and saving lives through dialogue.
Support this work by:
○ Partnering with HMNI on future
interventions
○ Providing resources for youth- and
community-led advocacy
○ Amplifying these stories in your
networks, media platforms, and institutions.
The Public Health Bill is more than
words on paper. Through EchoChange, communities are beginning to say:
“We understand it. We own it. And we
are ready to push it ’s passage to
protect our health, our daughters, and
our future.”
That is the kind of echo we want to
keep amplifying—until every
community in Liberia can say the same.
How to Reach the Team:
To learn more about the EchoChange
Project, partner with HMNI, or support
this work:
● Email: info@
helpamotherandnewborn.org
● Social Media: Follow Help a
Mother and Newborn Initiative
(HMNI) on Instagram:https://
www.instagram.com/mother
_
and
_
babies_in_lib
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/
mothersandbabiesinlib
Facebook: https://www.facebook.
com/mothersandbabiesinLib/
Website: helpamotherandnewborn.org
You can also request a copy of our
learning brief or invite the team to
speak with your organization, school,
or community group about
EchoChange and community-led public
health advocacy
