Behaviour Change Communication

This toolkit has been designed with practitioners in mind and is a resource to work with and adapt to achieve communication for humanitarian action goals. The toolkit provides guidance to humanitarian and development organizations in the area of emergency communication strategy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It addresses several important aspects of communication during emergencies. These include a focus on providing essential emergency warnings, as well as communication that promotes behaviour change, community mobilization and action. Well-planned communication can help to promote community resilience and reduce vulnerability to a wide range of disasters and emergency situations. Click here for full toolkit ...
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Alive & Thrive (A&T) researchers conducted an extensive desk review on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition (MIYCN) and nutrition-sensitive practices in Indonesia. The effort was aimed at supporting a national social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategy as part of the Government of Indonesia’s National Stunting Reduction Movement. A&T and key stakeholders—including UNICEF Indonesia, IMA World Health, Millennium Challenge Account Indonesia and The World Bank—continued to support the National Stunting Reduction Movement by using evidence from the desk review and other sources to develop a roadmap toward an SBCC strategy. Click here for full details and access to both the desk review and the roadmap ...
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A set of harmonised Information, Education and Communication (IEC) tools for nutrition in Arabic which were developed by the Whole of Syria (WoS) nutrition sector as a result of a nutrition, food security and livelihoods workshop in October 2016 in Jordan, attended by global nutrition and food security cluster coordinators and country-level coordinators and partners, and a follow-up operational workshop in March 2017. Click here for background details to Whole of Syria (WoS) nutrition sector. Click here for full range of materials ...
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For decades, social and behavior change communication (SBCC) has been used in malaria programs to positively influence behaviors around case management, malaria in pregnancy, insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying. However, the evidence base for the impact of SBCC on malaria-related behavioral outcomes is still growing, especially with the recent introduction and scale-up of several malaria interventions and commodities. To document and assess the evidence for malaria SBCC, HC3 conducted a critical review of the literature using a multiphase search and review process, involving abstract and full-article reviews of approximately 3,600 peer-reviewed articles and 1,700 grey literature documents. Each article was then scored on two indicators: the strength of the evidence presented in the article and the extent to which the SBCC activity used best practices during the design and implementation of the program. The result is the Malaria SBCC Evidence Package, which includes a searchable online database, factsheets and infographics that compile and highlight key SBCC successes on malaria outcomes. The database below presents a collection of 80 articles describing interventions or studies that address malaria challenges through SBCC approaches. Some studies address the same intervention across multiple articles, while other studies evaluate multiple interventions in the same article ...
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In areas with high, moderate, low, and very low transmission alike, use and uptake of malaria interventions rely heavily on community awareness, demand, and acceptance of essential commodities and services. While the WHO has recently developed a malaria elimination framework and has a number of established policies, manuals, and recommendations, detailed guidance does not yet exist for social and behavior change (SBC) in different transmission settings. While the Roll Back Malaria Strategic Framework for Malaria Social and Behavior Change Communication provides standard approaches, best practices, and indicators, it does not do so in malaria elimination contexts. This document describes the landscape of current SBC programming in such contexts and provides a number of considerations for future inquiry and research. This document describes ways in which program planners and implementers might tailor their efforts to specific malaria transmission strata and suggests a number of operational research questions. Three case studies exemplify considerations raised and describe the role of SBC in strengthening the fight against malaria: • The first case study from Zambia describes a successful interpersonal communication (IPC) approach paired with community-owned surveillance. • The second case study from the Greater Mekong sub-Region describes multi-channel, cross-border initiatives. • The third case ...
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Background. In the context of the burden of disease and the need to promote health among the Malawian population, Health Communication for Life in 2016 embarked on a 5-year social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) project to support the Malawian government’s effort to expand access to sustainable health services. As part of this support, a capacity assessment was conducted in the Ministry of Health. Objectives. To obtain a baseline measurement of current SBCC competencies, and to inform skills building for SBCC. Methods. Two standardised participatory tools were developed to capture SBCC competencies at the national and zonal/district levels, based on a collective competency framework. The national assessment was conducted with 8 health promotion officers based in the Health Education Section of the Ministry of Health. At district level, 30 district health promotion officers from 28 districts participated in the assessment. Results. The capacity assessment showed that health promotion officers had on average low capacity to plan, implement and evaluate SBCC interventions. However, there was variation within different domains, where the institutional capacity to lead and co-ordinate at both national and district levels was fairly strong, yet organisational capacity to evaluate, scale and sustain SBCC interventions was relatively weak. Participants also ...
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The National SBCC Strategy will build on the integration of Early Children Development, Nutrition and WASH sectors which provides opportunities of benefiting from integrated ECD, nutrition and WASH social behavior and communication services aiming at improving knowledge, attitude and practices at community and household levels. This strategy seeks to address key determinants related to early children development, malnutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) mostly related to knowledge, attitude and practices at community and individual levels. There are many impediments within the health systems that prevent people from having productive and healthy lives. Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) addresses key barriers preventing people from adopting improved health practices. The Early Children Development, nutrition and WASH sectors within the health system can benefit positively from an SBCC strategy. ECD, Nutrition and WASH have multi-sectoral dimensions that require contributions from different disciplines including but not limited to agriculture, economic strengthening, public health, gender, medicine, and social science. The theories and models fromthese different domains can be extracted to develop and deliver effective behavior change communications particularly in the context of promoting positive ECD, nutritional and WASH related practices at household and community level in Rwanda. By addressing key barriers related to ECD, Nutrition and WASH by promoting Community and Household integrated best practices, this will ensure optimum health status ...
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The first 1,000 days, the period from pregnancy to two years of age, are critical for early childhood development. During this time, children are especially vulnerable to stunting, an irreversible condition that can result in lifelong cognitive and physical deficits. In 2011, stunting, or low height-for-age, affected more than 165 million children worldwide (Black et al. 2013). Mounting evidence indicates that poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices contribute significantly to stunting. Improving WASH practices reduces diarrheal disease, environmental enteric dysfunction, and soil-transmitted helminth (parasitic worm) infections. Combined, these reductions contribute to decreases in stunting. In Ghana, stunting is a particularly serious challenge. According to the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), 19 percent of Ghanaian children under the age of 5 are stunted. Among the regions with the highest rates of stunting is the Northern Region, where the prevalence is 33 percent (GDHS 2014). WASH practices in many parts of the country contribute to this problem. The majority of households (93 percent) do not treat their drinking water by any method (GDHS 2014), while only 14 percent use an improved toilet facility that is not shared with other households (GDHS 2014). In the two weeks preceding the 2014 GDHS survey, the overall rate of diarrhea reported among children under five was 12 percent, a figure which tends to vary seasonally. The SPRING project is ...
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In Africa south of the Sahara, including Malawi, an estimated 61 percent of children below the age of five are developmentally challenged as a result of poverty, malnutrition, and lack of early stimulation and learning opportunities. Early-childhood development (ECD) programmes, which aim to improve young children’s survival, health and development are considered one of the most cost-effective human capital investments that can be provided by governments particularly when compared to subsequent schooling interventions. Community-based Childcare Centres (CBCCs) are a key element of ECD programs in Malawi. CBCCs serve 3–5-year-olds by promoting holistic child development through provision of safe and stimulating environments, access to health and nutrition services, and capacity building for parents and caregivers. In Malawi, there are an estimated 11,000 CBCCs across the country, but many are not functional. Lack of food provision at the CBCC leads to high rates of absenteeism and is considered one of the main reasons for the closing of CBCCs. To address this, Save the Children in partnership with Chancellor College-University of Malawi developed an integrated agriculture-nutrition package that was implemented alongside the standard ECD component. This included activities to promote nutritious food production and consumption, promotion of optimal feeding and caring practices, and ...
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Child marriage is being increasingly recognized globally as a fundamental violation of human rights. Child marriages occur globally in varying degrees across countries and regions. South Asia alone accounted for almost half of the total number of child marriages that have occurred globally. Early marriage can lead to serious ramifications such as school drop-out, early pregnancy, maternal morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a multi-pronged community-based intervention and the role of access to mass media on early marriage, early pregnancy and school retention among young people in two states of India. Click here for full paper ...
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A Global Evidence Review of Communication for Development (C4D) in support of inclusive and quality education demonstrated the contribution C4D to education outcomes, specifically in the areas of inclusion, equity and gender. The three briefs presented here summarize key findings of the evidence review, discuss key principles in applying and strengthening C4D for Education, and provide recommendations for policy and programming in support of education outcomes, while emphasising regional context and priorities. Programme brief: Addressing social norms and gender in support of equity in education [PDF] Programme brief: A social and behaviour change agenda for inclusion and equity in education [PDF] Programme brief: Investing in Communication for Development to enhance quality education and learning outcomes [PDF] Source: https://www.unicef.org/esaro/5481_c4d-education-briefs.html ...
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This curriculum was developed by the IRC and the Women’s Protection and Empowerment programme to equip adolescent girls with key knowledge and skills to help them to reduce, prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV). It is designed to be used in the classroom. The curriculum is structured to have two separate age groups (11-13 and 14-18) enrolled in 24 two-hour sessions over the course of 12 weeks. Skills-building sessions address topics such as communication, decision making, confidence and problem solving, each with a specific focus on GBV, early marriage, reproductive health, hygiene, managing stress, relationships with parents, and having healthy relationships. Click here for full resource ...
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