This year’s Network Challenge focuses on post-Social and Behaviour Change (2018 SBCC) Summit in-country discussions, consultations, and meet-ups; as well as C4D in-country capacity. The full draft declaration is below and can be used to discuss (a) your thoughts are about it, (b) how you might want to use this (if at all) in your country and how it can be useful, (c) how you might want to adapt it to your own country context.
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International Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit
Nusa Dua, Indonesia, April 16-20
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals depends on people-centered development.
A community of advocates and practitioners 1,200-strong, from 90 countries, has emerged from the 2018 SBCC Summit more committed than ever to harnessing the vast potential of communication to accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The SDGs will not be met, however, unless individuals and communities are informed, engaged and empowered to demand and participate in change and in improving their own lives. All voices, including those often unheard, must be amplified in this process. That means dismantling structural inequalities. That means challenging the status quo, acknowledging complexity, breaking down development silos and celebrating diversity. It means strengthening the efficacy and agency of those we serve, as well as assuring access to life-saving information. This is the heart of SBCC.
Social and behavior change communication – including Entertainment Education – has a critical and potentially transformational role in addressing all of the SDGs. Evidence shows that SBCC works. This evidences shows how important communication has been in meeting humanity’s most pressing challenges – from HIV to Ebola, from gender discrimination and violence to infant mortality, from malaria to climate change to access to justice.
Uniting us across SBCC’s diverse methodologies and approaches are certain core principles that came to the fore at this Summit. They constitute the foundation of all of our work:
* We are committed to listening and learning – not only informing and messaging. Simplistic one-way messaging has failed. Discussion and dialogue are central to social change.
* The SDGs are for everyone. We are committed to hearing and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable in our societies, including those of children, those with disabilities and other at-risk populations.
* We embrace complexity and appreciate the importance of context. We are committed to applying SBCC to address challenges across humanitarian as well as development contexts. Indeed, on a planet affected by rapid climate change, large-scale forced migration, and new disease outbreaks, the two contexts are increasingly inseparable.
* We are committed to rigorous analysis of what works and to turning our failures into lessons learned. We ensure our work is informed by evidence but are also willing to take the risks that go along with innovation.
* The credibility of our field rests on transparency regarding who decides how social and behavior change investments get prioritized, which behaviors or social norms should be changed, and in whose interest.
* We will keep the ethical dimension of our practice at the forefront of everything we do. Communication is a powerful tool for good, but it can also harm. We will continue to oppose communication that misinforms, manipulates, or distorts. We are committed to harnessing it in ways that strengthen democracy, equity and social cohesion.
* We will continue to embrace new approaches fueled by science and breakthroughs in technology, including the accelerating and disruptive growth of social media, mobile connectivity, virtual reality, Big Data analytics and more. We use these tools to enable greater bottom-up development and collective dialogue, while tackling barriers in access to communication channels and inequalities of whose voices are heard on them. At the same time, we are mindful of the dark side of trends that threaten rights to privacy, democracy and transparency.
Grateful for the growing recognition that SBCC has won in recent years, we call on governments, donors, civil society organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders to take this support to another level by:
* Integrating SBCC as a pillar in development planning and evidence generation;
* Developing and implementing SBCC strategies as part of national development plans and all efforts to achieve the SDGs;
* Recognizing that social change and shifting social norms requires long term commitment, attention to social determinants, dignity and respect for diversity; and
* Investing in SBCC across as well as within sectors, funding its core processes to enable full participation of affected people in development.
This Summit has confirmed the vitality, dynamism, evolution and maturity of our field of practice. We return home more united, more committed to people-centered development than ever.
We warmly thank the Indonesian authorities and people for hosting the 2018 Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit in beautiful Bali.