What can you do when households have access to life-saving resources, but do not seek them? When community action can halt the spread of disease, but is paralyzed by mistrust or stigma? When married couples desire smaller families, but encounter social resistance? When mothers and children need access to health services, but gender roles interfere? For any health outcome limited by attitudes, norms and practices, social and behavior change can make a difference.

The Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) has worked in 34 countries to reduce the burden of vector-borne and infectious diseases, maternal and child mortality, unintended pregnancies and HIV/AIDS. A diverse portfolio and multi-disciplinary team makes HC3 well-positioned to identify and address advanced social and behavior change communication (SBCC) challenges and opportunities. This innovation blog series, “Leading the Way to Better Social and Behavior Change” is a look at HC3’s cutting-edge work in order to spur fresh thinking around SBCC.

A Unique Angle in Addressing the Gap between Healthcare Workers and Clients

HC3’s campaigns within the Healthy Life brand emphasized trust, partnership, and compassion for healthcare workers which in turn has resulted in stronger links between the community and health facility, more compassion for healthcare workers, and a shrinking gap between service providers and the communities they serve.

Making Smart Choices Easy: Incorporating Behavioral Economics into a National Campaign in Nepal

HC3 designed approaches that used behavioral economics concepts and seamlessly incorporated them into a national SBCC campaign to promote HTSP and the use of long-acting contraceptive methods in Nepal.

Mobile-First Video Approach Helps Youth Share Contraception Information

How might we capture young people’s real stories and everyday experiences with contraception in a way that helps decision-making?

Zika Communication Mapping Supports National Stakeholders to Navigate the Communication Response

A key part of a social and behavior change communication response to an emergency situation is to understand not only what SBCC activities and campaigns other stakeholders are conducting, but also where those activities are taking place. Beginning in late 2016, the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative initiated a Zika communication activity mapping effort in four Latin American countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Using Mobile Phones to Empower Smart Clients of Family Planning Services

Profile of the Smart Client tool, which uses interactive voice response to deliver a fictional drama, personal stories and examples of “smart client” dialogues over a series of 17 calls, along with supporting short message service reminders to build awareness and skills for active participation before, during and after a family planning counseling visit.