The ORC #3 - SBCC Strategy Development and Design

The ORC #3 - Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Strategy Development and Design

July 13 2010

The ORC is an e-magazine supported by C-Change and prepared by The Communication Initiative in cooperation with C-Change partner Ohio University. It is dedicated to alerting you and your organization to resources, training, links, and other opportunities for capacity strengthening in social and behavior change communication (SBCC), all vetted for quality and relevance by AED and Ohio University.

In this edition, we are focusing on another of SBCC's core competency areas - strategy development and design. This competency area forms the bridge between formative analysis and the creation of materials, products, and activities. The communication strategy that emerges from the development and design process serves as the guide for the rest of the intervention. It provides direction and ensures that the different products, materials, and activities are coordinated well and mutually supportive to create an environment of change. Below you will find core resources and trainings designed to strengthen capacity to create a communication strategy that provides the clear and detailed direction and vision needed for any successful SBCC program.

The Capacity Strengthening Online Resource Center is a living resource designed to provide the best resources and training opportunities available and we welcome your contribution. We are looking for case studies, strategic thinking, support materials, trainings, meetings, and other resources relevant to SBCC capacity strengthening. To contribute, please contact cchangeorc@comminit.com

In this issue:

C-Change Capacity Strengthening News
Worth Reading
Focus on Strategy Development and Design
• Core Resources
• Training
• Work Sharing
• Networks and Discussions

C-Change Capacity Strengthening News

1. Recruiting for Chief of Party II, C-Change Jamaica

The Chief of Party II is AED's official representative in Jamaica and the Bahamas for the MARP capacity strengthening project; responsible for overseeing all aspects of its technical, financial, and managerial performance. The COP will be AED's primary liaison with USAID, the Governments of Jamaica and the Bahamas, and all other stakeholders. S/he will lead work plan development and ensure that the program complies with USAID and AED financial and personnel regulations. S/he will provide vision and leadership to the Project technical staff and in-country partners and will regularly report to USAID on technical, administrative, and budgetary issues. For full description and application please go to the link provided.

[Return To Top]

2. C-Change Signs MOU with PIRCOM in Mozambique
On June 8, 2010 in Maputo, Mozambique, PIRCOM and C-Change signed an MOU that supports USAID's efforts to control malaria and water-borne diseases. Over the next two years, with assistance from the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), C-Change will partner with PIRCOM, a faith-based organization, to strengthen its organizational and technical capacity to carry out social and behavior change communication.

[Return To Top]

3. Strengthening SBCC capacity in Southern Africa
C-Change is implementing several activities in the Southern African region to strengthen the capacity of regional and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out evidence-based social and behavior change communication (SBCC) programs. Some of the activities include:
• Working with Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) - a large network of local organizations in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe that work at the community level in HIV and AIDS;
• Developing low-literacy materials and tools for HIV prevention that engage adults in dialogue and other activities to help make meaning of HIV prevention drivers. Both SAT and Soul City are involved in concept testing and adaptation of the materials for use in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe;
• Supporting organizations in Namibia receiving PEPFAR funding to strengthen SBCC capacity and development of materials on HIV drivers in order to stimulate community discussions on HIV drivers like multiple concurrent partnerships; and
• Carrying out training in Lesotho of community facilitators who in turn lead dialogues with community members around concurrency, transactional, intergenerational sex, and sexual satisfaction related to the HIV epidemic in collaboration with Soul City regional network partner Phela.

[Return To Top]

4. C-Change Delivers Training for Malaria Communities Program Grantees
C-Change developed and facilitated the training workshop "Designing for Social and Behavior Change" for 21 professionals from 20 USAID Malaria Communities Program Grantees throughout sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia), who gathered in Kenya in October 2009. The training drew from C-Change's C-Modules: A Learning Package for Social and Behavior Change Communication .

[Return To Top]

Worth Reading

5. A Field Guide to Designing a Health Communication Strategy
The purpose of this strategic communication Field Guide is to provide practical guidance to those who are in a position to design, implement, or support a strategic health communication effort. The emphasis of the guide is on developing a comprehensive, long-term approach to health communication that responds appropriately to audience needs.

[Return To Top]

Strategy Development and Design
Select Core Resources:

6. C-Modules: A Learning Package for Social and Behavior Change Communication
Module 2: Focusing and Designing

This module helps programs to focus the results of initial research/situational analysis (discussed in Module 1) to design an appropriate communication approach based on that analysis.

[Return To Top]

7. Communication for Better Health: How Family Planning Program Managers Can Build Effective Behavior Change Communication Programs

This document, intended for family planning program managers, focuses on helping them to build behavior change communication (BCC) into their overall strategies. According to the document: "BCC is a process that motivates people to adopt healthy behaviors and lifestyles. For example, BCC programs have motivated people to use contraception and to obtain HIV tests. BCC programs are cost-effective when they reach large audiences."

[Return To Top]

8. Feel! Think! Act! A Guide to Interactive Drama for Sexual and Reproductive Health With Young People
This guide contains ideas for drama and discussion activities designed to help young people learn about sexual and reproductive health issues and gain skills in facilitating and using interactive drama tools and techniques. It outlines specific steps in the process of designing interactive drama-based strategies and activities.

[Return To Top]

9. Strategic Considerations for Communications on Multiple and Concurrent Partnerships within Broader HIV Prevention in Southern Africa

This document offers guidance on principles and good practice for multiple and concurrent partnerships (MCP) campaigns to strengthen HIV prevention efforts that can be built on and elaborated over time.

[Return To Top]

10. Planning BCC Interventions: A Practical Handbook

This handbook is a guide to help plan and implement effective BCC strategies in support of reproductive health in general, adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention in particular.

[Return To Top]

Training
Select Courses:

11. Planning and Implementing Health Communication Strategies for Social and Behaviour Change Certificate Course - August 16-20 2010 - Johannesburg, South Africa

C-Change partner Soul City and the University of Witwatersrand, School of Public Health have collaborated in the development and launch of a new concentration in SBCC within the University of Witwatersrand's Masters of Public Health (MPH) program supported by USAID, DFID and other source funding. This is a unit for Part II of the MPH qualification in the field of SBCC and aims to develop capacity in applying formative research to programme planning.

[Return To Top]

12. HIV and AIDS Stigma & Discrimination – October 1 to 31 2010 - University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

AfriComNet has developed a complete 5-day training-of-trainers course on HIV and AIDS Stigma & Discrimination. The course is premised on core competencies and standards of practice toward the certification of strategic communication practitioners.

[Return To Top]

Worksharing
Select Opportunities:

13. Canon Collins Trust Scholarship Program for Study in South Africa

Canon Collins Trust provides scholarships to students from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, and Mozambique, who wish to pursue a Masters degree of two years in South Africa.

[Return To Top]

14. Sankofa Center for African Dance and Culture (SCADC) Volunteer Program

This volunteer opportunity allows for engagement with communities in Ghana through HIV and AIDS education, drama, and dance. SCADC employs traditional African dance, music, and theater into performances to encourage education and dialogue to inform audiences about stigma, gender, and structural issues related to HIV and AIDS prevention.

[Return To Top]

15. Robert S. McNamara Fellowships Program

The Robert S. McNamara Fellowships Program provides support to young researchers working in academic and research institutions from eligible countries preparing a doctoral thesis.

[Return To Top]

Networks and Discussions
Select Forums and Communities:

16. SA HealthInfo

SA HealthInfo aims to develop a national health knowledge network to support and stimulate innovation and improved decision making within South Africa's health system. It provides information and hosts forums related to HIV and AIDS, Malaria, alcohol abuse, nutrition, and traditional medicine.

[Return To Top]

17. Kabissa

Kabissa is an active network of over 1,000 African civil society organizations and citizen members. It seeks to assist African civil society with employing information and communication technologies (ICTs) to benefit their respective communities and endeavors.

[Return To Top]

18. Capacity Development Network (Capacity-Net)

The Capacity-Net is an informal and external moderated email network for development practitioners involved with capacity development work.

[Return To Top]

Development of the C-Change Online Resource Center is guided by C-Change partner Ohio University in cooperation with The Communication Initiative. C-Change is a project implemented by AED and partners and funded by USAID. For a complete list of C-Change Partners, click here.

This publication is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Agreement No. GPO-A-00-07-00004-00. The contents are the responsibility of the Communicative Initiative and the C-Change project, managed by AED, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

To subscribe to The ORC please click here or send an email to cchangeorc@comminit.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.