Information Bundle on Behavior Change Communication

In order to address the question "...how do program managers and others plan, carry out, and monitor and evaluate effective behavior change communication (BCC) programs?", the INFO Project offers a bundle of reports on BCC in family planning, related reproductive health, HIV prevention, and other health and development areas.

In addition to the Population Reports issue, Communication for Better Health [PDF format], the INFO Project released a package of information on the topic, including two companion INFO Reports issues, “Tools for Behavior Change Communication” and “Entertainment-Education for Better Health.” The package also contains several online tools such as a PowerPoint presentation, and a Question and Answer summary on INFO's Hot Topics web page.

This issue of the Population Reports intends to help managers of family planning and reproductive health programmes to:

• "Advocate inclusion of BCC in family planning programs, a crucial element that has had a low cost for each new contraceptive user (see Communication Motivates Behavior Change).
• Learn how to apply theories of behavior to help choose the most appropriate BCC strategies and messages (see Theories Inform Behavior Change Communication).
• Learn the key factors contributing to effective BCC programs (see Characteristics of Effective BCC Programs).
• Oversee the steps in planning, carrying out, and monitoring and evaluating a BCC program (see Communication - A Process, Not a Product).
• Make sure that monitoring and evaluation collect information that helps guide the program (see Steps 4 and 5, Communication - A Process, Not a Product).
• Compare and assess different approaches to developing capacity for BCC programming and to scaling up BCC activities (see Planning for the Future)".

Communication for Better Health: Questions Answered [MS Word Format]

This four-page topical question and answer document gives information on BCC topics including: an overview about behaviour change communication; participatory communication, "SMART" objectives and suitable monitoring and evaluation of them; and communication as a process, rather than a product.

This MS PowerPoint document of 36 slides, also entitled Communication for Better Health, gives an illustrated version of the communication programme process described in the Population Report issue in a presentational version.

Links to two short online courses, one on "Monitoring and Evaluation Fundamentals" and the other on "Fostering Change in Health Services", are available on this web page. In addition, a blog space and several resources are available.