Behaviour Change Communication

The 2018 SBCC Summit took place from 16 – 20 April 2018 and was organized to better understand what works in shifting social norms, changing behaviours and in amplifying the voice of those who have most at stake in the success of development efforts. It was designed to wrestle with the profound issues of social justice and agenda setting that affect these decisions and included a wide range of participation from government, regional entities, academics, NGOs, CSOs, global agencies and the private sector working on development and health issues. This report provides a taste of the 2018 Summit, some highlights of the weeklong event, a few lessons learned and food for thought for a 2020 Summit. More insights can be found in a special issue about the Summit published by The Journal of Development Communication ...
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This toolkit gathers together a wide variety of participatory research tools developed over a 20-year period and used in multiple social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) projects around the world. Examples are provided from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. All of the tools presented have been tried and tested. A majority of them have been used with adolescents. However, children, women, men, key influentials and, indeed, whole communities have used them. The tookit provides an overarching description of the tool as a whole, next, there is a list of topics and countries where the research team has had first-hand experience of working with these tools, and then there is a selection of concrete examples. Finally, each tool is accompanied by suggested “how-to’s” with step by step instructions, tips and techniques that have been employed in real-world settings. Click here for full toolkit ...
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Many Asian countries are recording alarmingly high numbers of HIV infection among its MSM population. This is particularly evident in large urban areas like Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, and Saigon. HIV prevalence has been reported between 15-31% in these cities. Where data is available, the rate of HIV testing among young MSM aged 18 to 29 is less than 50%. Meanwhile, the adoption of media and technology in Southeast Asia – especially in urban areas – has grown exponentially. Online sexual networking websites and mobile dating apps are used by young MSM to regularly seek out sexual partners. This gives campaigners new opportunities to reach and engage this demographic like never before. testXXX was created by APCOM to respond to this crisis and opportunity for HIV services for young MSM in the region. testXXX empowers the existing community-based clinics to reach and recruit wider young MSM audience. It does this by harnessing the power of cutting-edge communications and creativity that resonates with the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of young MSM. Thumb Stopping and 15 other Case Studies on HIV-related Behaviour Change Communication is the report based on the lessons shared during the testXXX Regional Dialogue, which took place in Bangkok during ...
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In 2016, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF launched two country-level initiatives to improve breastfeeding practices of infants of working mothers, in partnership with businesses operating in two distinct settings: • Ready-made garment (RMG) factory sites located in the urban and peri-urban areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh. • A vast tea estate situated in Kericho County, Kenya. The objective of the mother- and babyfriendly workplace initiatives is to increase working mothers’ demand for and access to facilities and services that support appropriate breastfeeding practices and care in the workplace.” In doing so, the initiatives aim to generate evidence on the operational feasibility, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of supporting breastfeeding in the workplace, and to showcase its benefits for children, families, communities and businesses. UNICEF applied the Communication for Development (C4D) process to design social and behavioural change communication strategies to increase acceptance of, and demand for, workplace breastfeeding programmes in each context. This document presents accomplishments to date and conceptual thinking in C4D for promoting breastfeeding support in the workplace, emanating from these two experiences and building upon available evidence and lessons learned from former experiences. The document is intended for programme planners within UNICEF as well as ...
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Communication for Development (C4D) promising practices are dialogue-driven interventions that lead to the sustainable improvement of living conditions for children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable. This booklet brings together four outstanding examples from Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, where UNICEF-supported interventions by governments and civil society organizations are bringing about positive change. Click here for full booklet ...
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In April 2018, almost 1,200 people gathered in Indonesia for the Summit on Behaviour and Social Change Communication. Practitioners, researchers, donors, and leaders from more than 400 organisations travelled to Nusa Dua from the Asia Pacific region, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. This issue features ten papers prepared by Summit participants based on their presentations. They cover a range of challenges from using story-telling to help fishermen in Belize deal with threats to their occupations, and influencing adolescent girls and boys in India to address gender discrimination and stereotyping – to the use of social media to change norms regarding babies’ health in Malawi. Click here for full journal ...
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This issue of Frontiers of CLTS shares and builds on the learning from a desk study that explores examples of men’s and boys’ behaviours and gender roles in sanitation and hygiene (S&H). Of particular interest is the extent to which the engagement of men and boys in S&H processes is leading to sustainable and transformative change in households and communities and reducing gendered inequality. The review focuses on men and boys: how to engage them (or not), how to mobilise them as allies in the transformation of S&H outcomes and the problems they contribute to and experience. Click here for full publication ...
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The 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018 http://www.aids2018.org/) took place in July 2018 in Amsterdam. The theme of AIDS 2018 was “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges”, drawing attention to the need of rights-based approaches to more effectively reach key populations, including in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the North-African/Middle Eastern regions where epidemics are growing. Some of the C4D related conference sessions and abstracts submitted are listed below. Our actions count: Community mobilization model for social change and transforming ‘inaction in response to Stigma and Discrimination' into ‘action' HIV and TB-related stigma and discrimination are important impediments to controlling the dual HIV and TB epidemics. A South African Stigma Index Survey was completed in 18 districts in South Africa. This study included over 10 700 participants who are HIV positive and who are older than 15 years, the largest of its kind in the world. Measuring stigma associated with TB was included in this type of survey for the first time. The purpose of the Stigma Index was to measure stigma and discrimination experienced by PLHIV and TB and to inform the development and implementation of national policies and programmes to protect the rights of PLHIV and TB. From online ...
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Abstract: Structural HIV prevention interventions have gained prominence as ways to address underlying social and cultural factors that fuel the HIV epidemic. Identifying theories that explain how structural interventions are expected to change such factors can substantially increase their success. The Tchova Tchova community dialogue program, a theory-based intervention implemented in 2009–2010 in the provinces of Zambezia and Sofala, Mozambique, aimed to change gender and sexual norms for HIV prevention. Through facilitated sessions, the program sparked critical thinking and open dialogue among participants. This article measures the program’s effectiveness based on a sample of 462 participants and 453 nonparticipants. The results show that the program was successful in producing changes in three of the underlying structural factors of HIV: gender attitudes, gender roles, and HIV stigma. The program was also successful in changing other factors associated with HIV infection, including HIV prevention knowledge, discussion of HIV between sex partners, and having multiple sex partners. Click here for full paper ...
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Abstract: From the bustling cities of Zambia to the most rural parts of Lesotho, HIV/AIDS is a raging epidemic that affects over 15% of the adult population in many regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Public health interventions often take the form of media campaigns, which utilize television, radio, and print advertisements to spread awareness and inform the population of risk factors, prevention methods, and treatment options. This paper will focus on HIV/AIDS radio programs in Malawi, Zambia, and other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. It will analyze these programs’ air times, audience, presentation style, and content, and identify how these factors influenced behavioral changes in the audiences. Additionally, this paper proposes promising techniques to ensure the success of future campaigns based on previous findings. Given these reviews of broadcasts of the past and their strengths and weaknesses, radio stations can better understand the reasons behind the programs’ respective impacts on the target populations. Further, this methodology can be applied when considering new radio programs for health education for HIV/AIDS and beyond. Click here for full paper ...
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A cluster randomised trial (CRT) in Burkina Faso was the first to demonstrate that a radio campaign increased health-seeking behaviours, specifically antenatal care attendance, health facility deliveries and primary care consultations for children under 5 years. Methods: Under-five consultation data by diagnosis was obtained from primary health facilities in trial clusters, from January 2011 to December 2014. Interrupted time-series analyses were conducted to assess the intervention effect by time period on under-five consultations for separate diagnosis categories that were targeted by the media campaign. The Lives Saved Tool was used to estimate the number of under-five lives saved and the per cent reduction in child mortality that might have resulted from increased health service utilisation. Scenarios were generated to estimate the effect of the intervention in the CRT study areas, as well as a national scale-up in Burkina Faso and future scale-up scenarios for national media campaigns in five African countries from 2018 to 2020. Evidence from a CRT shows that a child health radio campaign increased under-five consultations at primary health centres for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea (the leading causes of post neonatal child mortality in Burkina Faso) and resulted in an estimated 7.1% average reduction in under-five mortality ...
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According to the World Bank’s 2015 Development Report, edutainment has the potential to achieve large-scale behaviour change, and many other studies have noted similarly positive results. However, rigorously-gathered evidence of edutainment’s impact on behaviour change is still lacking. Oxfam has implemented edutainment programmes in 14 countries and is constantly seeking to better understand its impact. In 2015, Oxfam Novib’s impact measurement unit conducted a rigorous (randomised) evaluation of an edutainment pilot project in Tunisia. Click here for full case study ...
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