UNICEF has been working on strategies for using the Mother and Child Protection Card for behaviour change in order to ensure child survival, growth and development. To cater to this objective, a formative research endeavour was designed to improve caring practices for nutrition and development by allowing mothers and caregivers to monitor the growth of their children by using the messages given on these cards. In addition, the IMCI cards developed by WHO, to support family and community practices, had to be adapted to the Indian context.
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To facilitate the above research was commissioned and conducted in four states of Bihar, Rajasthan, M.P and U.P, with the main objectives being the following: 
•	Assessment of the existing beliefs, attitudes and practices prevalent in the community
•	Documenting practices adopted/not adopted and reasons for the same 
•	Counseling and recommendation on the adoption of positive practices
•	Assessment of the audience response to messages (pre-testing messages relevant to specific age groups)
•	Reworking the flashcards/MCPC on the basis of pre-test outcomes

To achieve these objectives the following areas of enquiry were defined:
•	Psychosocial care
•	Feeding practices (breastfeeding and complementary feeding)
•	Care during illness
•	Cognition of milestones
•	Response to recommendations offered by researchers
•	Feedback on the flashcards