Behaviour Change Communication

This concise and practical toolkit is designed to give development practitioners the know-how they need to understand people's behaviours and to help them in designing and implementing effective behaviour change strategies. It highlights how behaviour change is key to addressing many development issues such as child mortality, food insecurity, lacking education, and gender inequality, and offers practical and easy-to-read guidance on how to go about developing a behaviour change intervention. Click here for the toolkit ...
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Using digital technologies—such as mobile phones, computers, or tablets—to convey information and messages as part of an evidence-based multichannel social and behavior change (SBC) strategy may contribute to promoting, adopting, and maintaining healthy sexual and reproductive behavior. This brief summarizes the current state of evidence in this rapidly changing field. (A companion brief reviews digital applications aimed at supporting providers and health systems.) People in developed and developing countries are spending more time on digital devices. Smartphone ownership and Internet use are increasing rapidly among adults in most emerging and developing economies, where nearly half the adult population reports owning a smartphone or using the Internet at least occasionally. Digital technologies have the potential to provide accurate information to individuals when and where they need it. Making information available through digital applications may also reduce the time and cost related to seeking or receiving information through more traditional sources, such as print or interpersonal communication. Use of digital technologies to support healthy sexual and reproductive behaviors is one of several promising “high impact practices in family planning” (HIPs) identified by a technical advisory group of international experts. A promising practice has limited evidence, with more information needed to fully document implementation experience and impact. The advisory group recommends that these interventions be promoted widely, provided they are implemented within the context of ...
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The purpose of the Urban Adolescent Social and Behavior Change Communication Implementation Kit (I-Kit) is to provide a selection of Essential Elements and tools to guide the creation, or strengthening, of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) social and behavior change communication (SBCC) programs for urban adolescents aged 10 to 19. The I-Kit is designed to teach these essential SBCC elements and includes worksheets to illustrate each element. It highlights the Essential Elements of SBCC programming, with particular focus on what is unique in the context of urban adolescents. The I-Kit is intended for a range of audiences, including: SBCC professionals, like program managers, designers and implementers who are already working with adolescents or are interested in doing so. SRH professionals, like program managers, designers and implementers who are already incorporating SBCC components or interested in doing so. Youth-led organizations or youth-focused professionals, like program managers, designers and implementers who are already working on, or interested in, incorporating SBCC elements into their SRH work. Click here for full kit ...
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Social norms increasingly are the focus of intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention strategies but are among the least examined contextual factors in quantitative violence research. This study assesses the within-community, between-community, and contextual effect of a new measure of social norms (PVNS: Partner Violence Norms Scale) on women's risk of IPV. Data come from baseline surveys collected from 1435 female, married, reproductive-age participants, residing in 72 wards in three districts (Chitwan, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi) in Nepal who were enrolled in a cluster randomized trial testing the impact of a social behavioral change communication intervention designed to prevent IPV. The study finds that PVNS is a promising measure of social norms underpinning women's risk of IPV and warrants further psychometric testing. Click here for full study ...
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Society in Kosovo is considered patriarchal and patrilineal, where property inheritance is traditionally transferred to men (Joireman, 2015). Even though the laws on Gender Equality and Law on Inheritance are considered egalitarian, the social norms continue to encourage patriarchal values that exclude women from property inheritance. This paper addresses the social context and norms related to property inheritance. It discusses how it has negatively affected women’s ability to inherit and own property, and describes interventions implemented under the USAID-funded Property Rights Program (PRP), namely a multi-channel Social and Behavior Change Communications (SBCC) campaign, with the aim of countering these negative effects. The application of an SBCC methodology to encourage change in beliefs, attitudes and behavior on women freely exercising their property rights in practice is the focus of this paper. This paper was presented at the Annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference ...
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Mass media programming in reproductive health can influence individual behaviors by providing accurate information, building self-efficacy, and promoting attitudes and social norms that support healthy reproductive behaviors. This brief describes the evidence on and experience with mass media programming in family planning. The distinguishing characteristic of mass media programs, relative to other social and behavior change (SBC) interventions, is that they reach a large audience—often national in scope—with consistent, high-quality messages, primarily through TV and radio (e.g., public service announcements or advertisements, talk shows, or serial dramas). Some mass media programs also use ancillary print materials. Approaches that rely on digital technologies, such as mobile devices and social media, are not covered in this brief. Programs frequently use mass media as part of a package of interventions to influence the individual, family, peer group, and/or community simultaneously. Mass media should be linked with other SBC approaches, such as interpersonal communication or community group engagement, and/or investments in service delivery improvement for greater impact. Click here for full brief ...
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The process of understanding nutrition related problems, and of developing appropriate solutions – i.e., design thinking – can be quite challenging. In fact, there are far more examples of public health solutions that ignore the end-user than of ones that are built with the end-user in mind. For this very reason, the goal of this chapter is to convey the relevance of people-centered design to nutrition interventions, and to share some strategies for putting people at the heart of nutrition interventions. The chapter uses case studies to consider the role of participatory photography, and grandmothers and indigenous knowledge systems in nutrition interventions. Click here for full chapter ...
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The Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016–2030) calls for action towards three objectives: Survive (end preventable deaths), Thrive (ensure health and well-being) and Transform (expand enabling environments). The strategy recognizes that “women, children and adolescents are potentially the most powerful agents for improving their own health and achieving prosperous and sustainable societies”. Social, behavioural and community engagement (SBCE) interventions are key to empowering individuals, families and communities to contribute to better health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. Policy-makers and development practitioners need to know which interventions work best. WHO has provided global guidance on some key SBCE interventions, and we recognize there is more work to be done as this will be an area of increasing importance in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the EWEC Global Strategy. This document provides an evidence map of existing research into a set of selected SBCE interventions for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH), the fruit of a collaboration between the WHO, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluations (3ie), supported by other partners. It represents an important way forward ...
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There is growing understanding among civil society organizations, governments and others about how to enable behaviour change, but many interventions still rely too much on information provision and awareness raising. This discussion paper draws on learning from theory and practice to provide practitioners with an understanding of the range of influences that shape different behaviours at individual, group, societal and system levels. It suggests a menu of possible interventions to address them, and highlights the need for resources and skill-building. It will be relevant for practitioners involved in programming, humanitarian, influencing and campaigning work, as well as for government officials and donors. Click here for full paper ...
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The integration of high quality social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) into malaria strategic plans is essential in order to reach targets to prevent, treat, control, and eventually eliminate the disease. In 2012, the Strategic Framework for Malaria SBCC: 2012-2017 set forth an agenda to advocate for and strengthen technical capacity for SBCC; a number of developments have occurred since its publication to warrant an update and extension of the original framework. Many people in malaria-prone areas now have access to insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and to effective antimalarial drug treatment. Although the number of countries with areas of low transmission has grown, the number of new pharmacological, epidemiological and vector challenges has also increased. Recent global strategy documents, such as the RBM Partnership’s Action and Investment to Defeat Malaria and WHO’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria, call for new approaches and interventions as countries scale up and the dynamics of malaria transmission change. The intended audiences for the Strategic Framework are: • Technical staff at the global, national, and local levels who are responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and coordinating malaria control and elimination policies, strategies, and interventions. • RBM SBCC-oriented partners who are engaged in developing, implementing, and evaluating SBCC programmes/projects and who contribute to the global discourse on effective approaches to SBCC ...
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Ce guide a vocation à être utilisé par les entités impliquées dans la distribution de moustiquaires imprégnées d’insecticide (ITN) ou les organisations qui mettent en œuvre des activités de communication en lien avec la distribution et l’utilisation des ITN. Cliquez ici pour le guide complet.   ...
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Child undernutrition is one of the most devastating realities in many parts of the world. Globally in 2015, 159 million children below the age of five years were too short for their age (stunted) and 50 million were too thin for their height (wasted). Inadequate nutrition in early childhood can have lifelong consequences, including poor physical and psychological health, and low educational attainment and employment opportunities. Behaviour change of child carers is central to the effectiveness of many interventions addressing child undernutrition. For example, early and exclusive breastfeeding and the complementary feeding of infants between six and 23 months requires changes in feeding, caring and playing with children, as well as changes in the types and frequency of foods consumed and their preparation. Agriculture is probably the sector with the most studies on the effectiveness of nutrition-sensitive interventions. For agriculture to become more nutrition sensitive, choices will need to be made about who controls resources, which crops and animals are farmed, the types of storage and processing patterns adopted, and the metrics used to assess interventions. All of these changes are embedded in long cultural traditions and are not necessarily straightforward to change. The purpose of this paper is to ...
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