C-Change employs the following strategic approaches to achieve the outcomes outlined below:
Strategic Approaches
- Identify and influence the social determinants of behaviors. A key component of the C-Change approach is to bring about positive behavior change by shifting social norms that may require addressing gender roles and cultural practices.
- Improve the quality of SBCC interventions and streamline approaches and tools. C-Change streamlines formative research and pre- and concept-testing methods and creates easy-to-use frontline teaching tools and hands-on, skills-based training.
- Build the capacity of local institutions, including NGOs, CBOs, and FBOs. C-Change increases local institutions' ability to plan and implement SBCC approaches by strengthening both their technical and program management skills.
- Conduct research and improve monitoring and evaluation to inform program development and implementation. C-Change identities and examines how programs can utilize key social determinants of behavior—social norms and social networks—that influence and reach beyond the individual.
- Engage the media as a partner. C-Change involves journalists and other media professionals as full partners in the process of social change.
- Achieve scale and sustainability. C-Change assists programs to achieve scale by engaging and strengthening existing institutions and social networks and building strong coalitions to support programs.
Expected Program Outcomes
Evidence-based communication programs carried out at scale. C-Change will achieve large-scale, population-based impact by applying integrated communication approaches at national and regional levels. Major strategies include:
- Enlisting and strengthening the social and behavior change communication (SBCC) skills and programs of NGO networks
- Engaging the media to stimulate social action
- Strengthening district and community planning for SBCC
- Building system-wide coalitions and commitment to SBCC programs
Communication skills and knowledge transferred to developing country institutions. In each country where the program operates, C-Change will build the capacity of NGOs and networks, using a competency-based approach to training that includes both technical and management skills. Major activities include:
- Developing and strengthening communication courses in academic institutions
- Developing local networks of communication excellence among research institutions, advertising and public relations firms,and NGOs
- Supporting the design of tailored SBCC strategies with measurable benchmarks
State-of-the-art information and research in communication applied to implementation. Through its global research agenda, C-Change is generating lessons learned to improve communication for behavior and social change. A critical challenge for C-Change is how to best integrate findings from research, implementation, and evaluation activities to facilitate social change. Major cross-cutting research questions include:
- Understanding how social norms change and developing ways to facilitate this change
- Improving interaction and communication among organizations around common goals and building social capital
- Demonstrating the application of innovative social change approaches
- Developing valid, reliable indicators
