fullscreen
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojo 101 Series · Free Forever
Behaviour
Change
Communication
From Awareness to Action — a Foundational Course in SBCC for Development & Public-Health Communicators in South Asia
Theory-GroundedSouth Asia Focus100 SlidesFree Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series01www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Agenda
What We Cover
01
What BCC & SBCC Are
Slides 3–10
02
Why Behaviour Is Hard to Change
Slides 11–19
03
Individual Behaviour Theories
Slides 20–28
04
Social & Environmental Theories
Slides 29–36
05
Behavioural Economics & Nudges
Slides 37–45
06
Knowing Your Audience
Slides 46–53
07
Formative Research
Slides 54–62
08
Designing Messages
Slides 63–71
09
Channels & the Communication Mix
Slides 72–80
10
Campaigns & Community Engagement
Slides 81–89
11
Monitoring, Ethics & Examples
Slides 90–99
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series02www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
01
Section One
What BCC & SBCC Are
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series03www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Definition
Communication that changes what people do
Public-health and development work runs on behaviour — washing hands, using a toilet, attending antenatal care, immunising a child. Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) is the strategic use of communication to help people adopt and sustain healthier, safer behaviours.
Behaviour Change Communication (BCC)
An evidence-based, planned process that uses communication to promote and sustain individual, community and societal behaviour change — not to inform for its own sake, but to move people from intention to action.
BCC is not advertising and not health education alone. It is communication designed around a specific behaviour, a specific audience and the barriers between them.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series04www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
BCC → SBCC
Why the field added an 'S'
Early programmes focused on the individual: give a person the right message and they will change. Practitioners learned that behaviour is also shaped by families, norms, services and policy — so the field broadened to Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC).
BCC (older lens)
Focus on the individual decision. Persuade the person; assume the environment will follow.
SBCC (current lens)
Work across individual, community and social-norm levels at once — and address the services and policies that enable or block the behaviour.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series05www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
The Core Claim
Beyond awareness, towards action
01
AWARENESS: 'I have heard of ORS'
→
02
KNOWLEDGE: 'I know it treats dehydration'
→
03
INTENTION: 'I plan to use it'
→
04
ACTION: 'I gave it during the last episode'
→
05
MAINTENANCE: 'I use it every time'
Most campaigns stop at awareness. SBCC's job is the whole chain — and especially the drop-offs between each step.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series06www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
The Central Problem
The awareness-action gap
The behaviour funnel: people fall away at every step (illustrative)
Illustrative — shape typical of SBCC programme data
High awareness, low practice is the signature pattern of weak campaigns. The gap — not the awareness number — is where the real work lies.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series07www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
What SBCC Is Not
Common misconceptions
  • Not 'more posters'. Volume of messaging is not the same as change.
  • Not one-off. Behaviour change needs sustained, repeated contact.
  • Not blame. 'People are ignorant' ignores real barriers.
  • Not only mass media. Interpersonal contact often does the heavy lifting.
If a campaign assumes that telling people the facts is enough, it has already mistaken the problem.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series08www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Where SBCC Fits
Communication is one lever, not the only one
SBCC works best alongside the other levers of change. A handwashing message fails without soap and water nearby; an immunisation message fails without a functioning session and a friendly nurse.
SBCC can do
  • Shift attitudes, norms and intentions
  • Build skills and self-efficacy
  • Cue and remind at the right moment
SBCC cannot do alone
  • Supply soap, toilets, vaccines or clinics
  • Fix a hostile or distant service
  • Remove the cost of changing
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series09www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Roadmap
How this course is built
Understand
  • Why behaviour resists change
  • Individual and social theories
  • Behavioural economics and nudges
Design & Deliver
  • Audience, research and messages
  • Channels and campaigns
  • Monitoring, ethics and Indian examples
Throughout, examples come from India and the wider region — the behaviours and campaigns you will actually meet at work.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series10www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
02
Section Two
Why Behaviour Is Hard to Change
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series11www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
The Hard Truth
Knowledge alone rarely changes behaviour
The oldest assumption in health communication is that if people knew better, they would do better. Decades of evidence say otherwise: knowledge is necessary but almost never sufficient.
We are not short of people who know smoking is harmful, that handwashing saves lives, that helmets prevent injury. Knowing is the easy part.
— a recurring lesson of SBCC practice
If knowledge changed behaviour, no doctor would smoke. This single insight reshapes how you design every campaign.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series12www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Two Gaps
The knowledge gap and the intention-action gap
01
KNOWLEDGE GAP: don't know what or how
→
02
ATTITUDE: know, but don't value it
→
03
INTENTION: value it, plan to act
→
04
INTENTION-ACTION GAP: plan, but don't do
→
05
BEHAVIOUR: actually do it
Two different gaps need two different responses. Information closes the first; cues, skills and removing friction close the second — the harder, more neglected one.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series13www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Intention-Action Gap
Most people who intend, still don't act
From intention to action, people leak away (illustrative)
Illustrative — pattern documented across behaviours
Good intentions are real but fragile. The design question is not 'how do I create intention?' but 'how do I help intention survive contact with daily life?'
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series14www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Why Intentions Fail
What stands between wanting and doing
  • Forgetting: the moment to act passes unnoticed
  • Friction: the behaviour is even slightly inconvenient
  • Habit: the old behaviour fires automatically
  • Present bias: the cost is now, the benefit is later
  • Competing demands: survival crowds out 'good for you'
Each failure has a design fix — reminders, defaults, making the act easy, linking to existing routines. SBCC is as much about friction as about persuasion.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series15www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Social Barriers
Behaviour is watched, judged and shared
Few behaviours are private. A young wife's antenatal visit, a man's vasectomy, a girl's menstrual hygiene — all are governed by what families, neighbours and elders permit, expect or shame.
Social barriers
  • Norms about what 'people like us' do
  • Family gatekeepers — mothers-in-law, husbands
  • Stigma, gossip and reputation
Why it matters
An individual may be fully convinced and still not act, because acting would defy the people they live among.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series16www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Structural Barriers
Sometimes the barrier is not in the head
No amount of messaging overcomes a missing toilet, an absent nurse, a four-hour walk to a clinic, or a wage lost to attend a session. These are structural barriers — outside the individual's control.
Diagnosing a structural barrier as an attitude problem is the most expensive mistake in SBCC. You will run a campaign against a wall that no message can move.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series17www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Ability vs Motivation
Make it easy before you make it desired
When a behaviour is hard, even strong motivation fails. When a behaviour is easy, even modest motivation succeeds. Practitioners often over-invest in motivation and under-invest in making the behaviour easy.
Reduce friction
Bring the behaviour closer, simpler, cheaper, faster
Then motivate
Add reasons once the act is genuinely doable
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series18www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Implication
Design around barriers, not assumptions
  • Find the real barrier before choosing a message
  • Separate the gaps — knowledge vs intention vs ability
  • Address norms, not just individuals
  • Flag structural blocks to those who can fix them
  • Make the behaviour easy wherever you can
The rest of this course is, in effect, a toolkit for doing exactly this — barrier by barrier.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series19www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
03
Section Three
Individual Behaviour Theories
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series20www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Why Theory
Theories are maps of why people act
A behaviour theory is a tested explanation of what drives a behaviour. It tells you which levers to pull — so you design from evidence, not instinct. This section covers three classic individual-level theories.
Behaviour-change theory
A structured account of the factors that cause a behaviour and how they interact — used to diagnose barriers and select communication strategies.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series21www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Health Belief Model
The Health Belief Model (HBM)
One of the earliest health-behaviour theories. It says people act when they believe a threat is real and that acting is worth it. Developed by U.S. public-health researchers in the 1950s.
ConstructThe question in the person's head
Perceived susceptibilityCould this happen to me?
Perceived severityWould it be serious if it did?
Perceived benefitsWill this action actually help?
Perceived barriersWhat will it cost me to act?
Cues to actionWhat prompts me to do it now?
Self-efficacyCan I actually do it?
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series22www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
HBM in Practice
Reading a behaviour through the HBM
Take an expectant mother skipping antenatal check-ups. The HBM asks: does she think complications could affect her? Does she see them as serious? Does she believe check-ups help more than they cost?
The model's gift to communicators: perceived barriers usually outweigh perceived benefits. Lowering the felt cost of acting often beats raising fear of the disease.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series23www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen)
Icek Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour — an extension of the earlier Theory of Reasoned Action — holds that behaviour follows from intention, which is built from three things.
01
ATTITUDE: do I view the behaviour positively?
→
02
SUBJECTIVE NORM: do important others approve?
→
03
PERCEIVED CONTROL: do I feel able to do it?
→
04
→ INTENTION → BEHAVIOUR
The crucial addition over Reasoned Action is perceived behavioural control — the felt sense of 'I can do this', which also directly affects whether the act happens.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series24www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
TPB in Practice
Three levers, three messages
Attitude
Show the behaviour as good and rewarding
Norms
Show that respected others do & approve of it
Control
Show it is feasible — demonstrate, simplify
TPB tells you which lever is weak for your audience — and therefore which message to lead with. Don't preach attitude when the real block is felt control.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series25www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Stages of Change
The Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska & DiClemente)
Prochaska and DiClemente observed that people change in stages, not in one leap. Their Transtheoretical Model maps the journey — and warns against treating everyone as if they are ready to act.
Pre-contempl.Contempl-ationPrepar-ationActionMainten-anceSTAGES OFCHANGE
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series26www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Match the Stage
Meet people where they are
StageWhere the person isCommunication job
PrecontemplationNot even considering changeRaise awareness, plant doubt
ContemplationWeighing pros and consTip the balance; show benefits
PreparationIntending to act soonGive a concrete plan and skills
ActionDoing it, recently startedReinforce, reward, problem-solve
MaintenanceSustaining the new behaviourPrevent relapse, build habit
Aiming an 'act now' message at someone in precontemplation wastes both your effort and their patience. Segment by stage.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series27www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Using the Theories
No single theory explains everything
  • HBM is strong on perceived threat and the cost-benefit of acting
  • TPB adds social approval and felt control over the act
  • Stages of Change reminds you that readiness varies
  • Good programmes borrow constructs from several, fit to the behaviour
Treat theories as a diagnostic toolbox, not doctrine. Pick the constructs that explain your behaviour and audience.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series28www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
04
Section Four
Social & Environmental Theories
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series29www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Beyond the Individual
Behaviour lives in a social ecosystem
Individual theories explain the person; social theories explain the world around them. The socio-ecological model reminds us that behaviour sits inside nested layers of influence.
PersonFAMILY / PEERSCOMMUNITYINSTITUTIONS / SERVICESPOLICY / SOCIETY
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series30www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Social Cognitive Theory
Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)
Albert Bandura showed that people learn behaviours by observing others — modelling — and by seeing those others rewarded. Change is a constant interplay between the person, their behaviour and their environment (reciprocal determinism).
  • Observational learning: we copy credible models
  • Vicarious reinforcement: we act when models are rewarded
  • Self-efficacy: belief in one's own ability to do it
This is the theoretical engine behind role-model storytelling and entertainment-education — show a relatable character succeeding, and viewers believe they can too.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series31www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy: 'I can do this'
Self-efficacy (Bandura)
A person's belief in their own capacity to perform a specific behaviour. It is behaviour-specific — high for one act, low for another — and is a powerful predictor of whether intention becomes action.
Mastery
Small successes build belief — demonstrate, let them practise
Modelling
Seeing 'someone like me' succeed raises efficacy
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series32www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Diffusion of Innovations
Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers)
Everett Rogers described how new ideas and practices spread through a community over time — not all at once, but in waves, starting with a small group of risk-tolerant adopters.
Adopter categories spread over time (Rogers)
Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations — standard proportions
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series33www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Using Diffusion
Find and back the early adopters
  • Innovators & early adopters are your entry point — reach them first
  • Opinion leaders bridge to the majority; their endorsement matters most
  • The early majority waits for proof from people like them
  • Laggards need the behaviour to become the new normal before they move
Don't try to convert everyone at once. Seed the behaviour with credible early adopters and let it diffuse along social ties.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series34www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Social Norms
We do what we think others do
Descriptive norm
What I believe most people actually do — 'everyone here defecates in the open'.
Injunctive norm
What I believe most people approve of — 'using a toilet is what respectable families do'.
Powerful and double-edged: telling people 'too many still defecate in the open' can normalise the very behaviour you oppose. Highlight the growing healthy norm instead.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series35www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Norms in Practice
Shifting the norm, not just the person
When a behaviour is governed by norms, persuading individuals one by one is slow and fragile. Changing the shared expectation lets many people change together, with social cover.
Public commitments, community pledges and visible role models work because they change what people believe their neighbours expect — the heart of community-led approaches in the next sections.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series36www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
05
Section Five
Behavioural Economics & Nudges
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series37www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
A Different Lens
People are predictably irrational
Classical models assume people weigh costs and benefits rationally. Behavioural economics shows we rely on mental shortcuts and are swayed by how choices are framed — in ways that are systematic and predictable.
This is liberating for communicators: if behaviour responds to context and framing, then small design changes — not just big persuasion — can move it.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series38www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
COM-B
The COM-B model (Michie)
Susan Michie's COM-B model sits at the centre of the Behaviour Change Wheel. It says any behaviour requires three things at once — remove any one and the behaviour fails.
CAPABILITYcan I?OPPORTUNITYdoes context allow?MOTIVATIONdo I want to?BEHAVIOUR
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series39www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
COM-B in Use
Diagnose which component is missing
ComponentAskIf missing, then…
CapabilityDo they know how & feel able?Teach, demonstrate, build skills
OpportunityDoes the environment allow it?Fix access, cues, norms, time
MotivationDo they want to, in the moment?Reasons, emotion, habit, incentives
COM-B's discipline: diagnose before you prescribe. A motivation campaign cannot fix an opportunity problem.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series40www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Cognitive Biases
Shortcuts that shape decisions
  • Present bias: we over-value now over later
  • Loss aversion: losing ₹100 hurts more than gaining ₹100 pleases
  • Status quo bias: we stick with the default
  • Social proof: we follow what others seem to do
  • Availability: vivid recent events feel more likely
Biases are not flaws to lecture away — they are levers. Design with the grain of how minds actually work.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series41www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Nudges
Defaults, framing and commitment
Defaults
Make the healthy option the automatic one — opt-out, not opt-in
Framing
Same fact, better wording — '90% protected' vs '10% at risk'
Commitment
Small public pledges make people follow through
Nudge
A change in how choices are presented that steers behaviour predictably without forbidding options or changing economic incentives — popularised by Thaler & Sunstein.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series42www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Choice Architecture
The design of the decision shapes the choice
Every decision happens inside an environment — the order of options, the default, the friction, the salient cue. The choice architecture is never neutral; the only question is whether you designed it deliberately.
Putting the immunisation register at the anganwadi door, or making ORS the first item on a shelf, is choice architecture — quiet design that beats loud persuasion.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series43www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
EAST
A practical checklist: make it EAST
PrincipleMeaning
EasyReduce friction; use simple defaults and clear steps
AttractiveDraw attention; make it personal and appealing
SocialShow that others are doing it; harness norms
TimelyPrompt at the moment people are most receptive
EAST, from the UK Behavioural Insights Team, is a quick field test for any behavioural intervention you design.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series44www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Limits
Nudges are not a substitute for systems
  • Nudges work at the margin — they don't supply missing services
  • Overused, they can feel manipulative or paternalistic
  • They must be transparent and in the person's genuine interest
  • Structural barriers still need structural fixes
A nudge towards handwashing is no answer to a village with no water. Use behavioural design and fix the system.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series45www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
06
Section Six
Knowing Your Audience
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series46www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
First Principle
There is no such thing as 'the public'
'The community' is not one audience. A new mother, her mother-in-law, the ASHA, the village head and the absent migrant husband each see a behaviour differently. Speaking to everyone usually means reaching no one.
If you are talking to everybody, you are talking to nobody.
— a maxim of audience-centred communication
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series47www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Segmentation
Audience segmentation
Audience segmentation
Dividing a broad population into smaller groups that share characteristics, barriers or motivations — so messages, channels and messengers can be tailored to each group rather than averaged across all.
  • Demographic: age, sex, education, location
  • Behavioural: current practice and stage of change
  • Psychographic: values, fears, aspirations
  • By barrier: grouped by what stops them
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series48www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Three Audiences
Primary, secondary and influencing audiences
01
PRIMARY: the person whose behaviour must change
→
02
SECONDARY: those close who shape that behaviour
→
03
INFLUENCING / TERTIARY: leaders & policy who set the climate
Example — primary: the pregnant woman; secondary: husband and mother-in-law; influencing: the panchayat, the ASHA, local health policy. A good campaign speaks to all three layers.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series49www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Gatekeepers
The people who hold the gate
In much of South Asia, a woman's health behaviour is often decided for her. The mother-in-law, husband or elder is frequently the real gatekeeper — and may be a more important audience than the person who performs the behaviour.
Mapping gatekeepers is not optional. Miss them and your message reaches a person who lacks the power to act on it.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series50www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Barriers & Motivators
What stops them? What would move them?
Barriers
  • Cost, distance, time, lost wages
  • Fear, stigma, past bad experience
  • Disapproval of family or neighbours
  • Low self-efficacy — 'I can't'
Motivators
  • Protecting one's child
  • Respect, status, belonging
  • Convenience and saving money
  • Approval of trusted others
Motivators are rarely 'health' in the abstract. People act for love, pride, money and belonging — design for those.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series51www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Personas
Make the audience a real person
A persona turns a segment into a named, concrete character — with a life, a routine, a barrier and a motivator — so the whole team designs for a real human, not an abstraction.
Persona example
Sunita, 23, first-time mother, rural Bihar
Lives in a joint family; her mother-in-law decides clinic visits. Owns a shared phone, watches TV serials at night. Barrier: can't leave the house alone. Motivator: desperate for a healthy baby. Reachable via: the ASHA and her husband.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series52www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Insight
From data to a single human insight
The goal of all this audience work is one sharp insight: the true, often surprising reason a person does or doesn't act — expressed in their own emotional logic, not the programme's.
Weak insight: 'mothers lack awareness of immunisation'. Strong insight: 'mothers fear the fever after the shot more than the disease it prevents'. The second tells you exactly what to address.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series53www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
07
Section Seven
Formative Research
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series54www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Research First
Understand the behaviour before you design
Formative research is the listening you do before creating any message — to learn what people actually do, why, and what would move them. Skipping it is the commonest cause of campaign failure.
Formative research
Early, exploratory research that shapes an intervention — understanding the audience, the behaviour, its barriers and motivators — before messages, materials or channels are decided.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series55www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
What to Find Out
The questions formative research answers
  • Who currently does the behaviour — and who doesn't?
  • What are the real barriers and motivators for each group?
  • Who and what do people trust as sources?
  • What language, images and channels resonate locally?
  • Which small, feasible action can we realistically ask for?
Notice: not one of these can be answered from a desk. Formative research is fieldwork, mostly qualitative.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series56www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Methods
How formative research is done
MethodGood forNote
In-depth interviewsPersonal, sensitive behavioursRich, but small numbers
Focus group discussionsNorms, shared language, reactionsBeware dominant voices
ObservationWhat people actually do vs sayReveals the say-do gap
Trials of improved practicesTesting a behaviour in real homesHouseholds try, then report
Quick surveysRough prevalence & segmentsSizing, not deep 'why'
Watch the say-do gap: what people report in a group and what they do at home often differ. Observe where you can.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series57www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Barrier Analysis
Barrier analysis
Barrier analysis is a structured method to find which factors most separate people who practise a behaviour from those who don't — so you target the barriers that actually matter.
01
Pick a specific behaviour
→
02
Interview practisers and non-practisers
→
03
Compare their beliefs, norms, efficacy
→
04
Find the determinants that differ most
→
05
Design messages against those determinants
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series58www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Doer / Non-Doer
The 'doer / non-doer' approach
At the heart of barrier analysis is a simple comparison: interview people who already do the behaviour (doers) and people who don't (non-doers), and look for the differences.
Doers
What do they believe, who supports them, what made it easy? These are your assets to amplify.
Non-doers
What stops them — belief, norm, access, efficacy? The biggest gap is your priority barrier.
The genius is comparison. The factor on which doers and non-doers differ most is where your communication should aim first.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series59www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Self-Efficacy & Norms
Probe the levers, not just the facts
Good formative research doesn't just ask 'do you know X?'. It probes the theory constructs: perceived risk, perceived benefit, felt control, social approval — because those, not facts, predict behaviour.
Tie your questions back to a theory (HBM, TPB, COM-B). Then your findings translate directly into which lever to pull.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series60www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Sizing the Behaviour
Then count: how common is it, and where?
Qualitative work tells you why; a quick quantitative scan tells you how big and where. Pairing the two lets you prioritise the segments and places where the gap — and the opportunity — is largest.
Use existing data first — NFHS, HMIS, district reports — before commissioning your own survey. Much of the sizing is already done and free.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series61www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Pretesting
Formative research never really stops
The same listening discipline continues into pretesting (covered in the next section) and into monitoring. Research is not a phase you finish — it is a habit of checking your assumptions against reality throughout.
Budget for it. Programmes that 'have no time for research' spend far more, later, fixing campaigns that didn't land.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series62www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
08
Section Eight
Designing Messages
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series63www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
One Job
The single overriding communication objective
A strong piece of communication tries to achieve one clear thing with one audience. The Single Overriding Communication Objective (SOCO) forces that discipline before you write a word.
SOCO
Single Overriding Communication Objective — the one specific change in knowledge, attitude or action you want one audience to take away from one message. If you have three SOCOs, you have three messages.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series64www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Cram & Confuse
Too many messages means no message
The strongest temptation in development communication is to say everything at once — nutrition, hygiene, immunisation, family planning — on a single poster. The audience remembers none of it.
Discipline: one behaviour, one audience, one ask, per piece. A campaign can have many materials, but each carries a single, clear job.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series65www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Emotion & Reason
Emotional and rational appeals
Rational appeal
Facts, benefits, evidence — 'ORS replaces fluids lost in diarrhoea'. Necessary, but rarely moving on its own.
Emotional appeal
Feeling, identity, story — a mother's relief as her child recovers. Emotion is what makes a message stick and act.
The best messages braid both: a reason to believe and a feeling to act on. Emotion opens the door; facts justify the choice.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series66www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Fear vs Positive
Fear appeals: handle with great care
Fear can grab attention, but used carelessly it backfires: people deny the threat, feel helpless, or tune out. Fear works only when paired with a clear, doable action that resolves it.
Fear alone fails
'Smoking kills' with no path forward — high threat, low efficacy → denial and avoidance.
Positive framing wins
Show the rewarding, aspirational behaviour — the proud, healthy family — and an easy first step.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series67www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Make It Stick
Qualities of a memorable message
  • Simple: one core idea, plainly said
  • Concrete: a specific action, not a vague value
  • Credible: from a trusted source or relatable model
  • Emotional: makes the audience feel something
  • Story-shaped: a person, a problem, a change
Ask for a small, specific, feasible action — 'wash hands with soap before feeding your baby' — not 'maintain hygiene'.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series68www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Messenger
Who says it matters as much as what is said
The same message lands differently from a distant official, a film star, a respected elder, or a neighbour who has done it. Source credibility is part of the message.
For everyday behaviours, a relatable peer — 'someone like me' — often out-persuades a celebrity. Match the messenger to the audience and the behaviour.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series69www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Pretesting
Pretest before you print
Pretesting is showing draft materials to a small sample of the real audience and checking comprehension, attractiveness, acceptability and whether they would act — before mass production.
  • Do they understand the core message correctly?
  • Is anything confusing, dull or offensive?
  • Do they see it as for 'people like me'?
  • Does it prompt the intended action?
Skipping pretesting is gambling a whole budget on an untested guess. One afternoon of pretesting saves crores in wasted print runs.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series70www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Calls to Action
End with a clear, doable ask
Every message should make the next step obvious. A vague hope (‘be healthier’) leaves people unsure what to do; a precise, easy ask (‘take your baby for the 9-month measles shot’) gets done.
Pair the ask with where, when and how — the place, the day, the simple step. Closing the intention-action gap starts with an unmissable call to action.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series71www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
09
Section Nine
Channels & the Communication Mix
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series72www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
No Magic Channel
Different channels do different jobs
Mass media reaches millions but persuades shallowly; interpersonal contact reaches few but changes deeply. The art is the communication mix — combining channels so each does what it is best at.
Reach vs depth of influence by channel (illustrative)
Illustrative — general SBCC pattern
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series73www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Channel Map
The four broad channel families
FamilyExamplesStrength
Mass mediaTV, radio, print, outdoorWide reach, awareness, norms
Mid-media / folkStreet theatre, melas, wall artLocal, engaging, trusted
InterpersonalFLWs, counselling, peer groupsDeep, tailored, persuasive
Digital / mobileSMS, IVR, WhatsApp, socialTargeted, two-way, cheap
Reach builds awareness; interpersonal contact converts it to action. A campaign that uses only one family usually under-performs.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series74www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Mass Media
Mass media: reach and the power to set norms
Radio and television still reach vast South Asian audiences, including the less literate. Mass media is unbeatable for awareness and for signalling that a behaviour is becoming the new normal.
But broadcast is one-way and shallow. It can tell millions that toilets matter; it cannot answer the one fear keeping a particular family from building one.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series75www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Mid-Media & Folk
Mid-media and folk forms
Between mass and interpersonal sits mid-media: street plays (nukkad natak), puppet shows, folk songs, video vans, wall paintings and melas — rooted in local culture and able to gather a crowd.
Folk forms carry credibility and emotion that a glossy ad cannot. In low-literacy, high-trust settings they often out-perform broadcast for changing minds.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series76www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Interpersonal
Interpersonal communication: the persuasion engine
Interpersonal communication (IPC) — a frontline worker counselling a mother, a peer group, a home visit — allows questions, tailoring, demonstration and trust. It is where intention most often turns into action.
Two-way
People can ask, object, be reassured
Tailored
Address this person's specific barrier
Trusted
A known, credible human face
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series77www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Community Mobilisation
Community mobilisation
Beyond one-to-one, community mobilisation organises groups — women's collectives, self-help groups, village health and sanitation committees — to act together and hold the new behaviour as a shared commitment.
Collective action changes the norm and gives individuals social cover to change. It is the bridge from personal message to community movement — the theme of the next section.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series78www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Digital & Mobile
Digital and mobile channels
Mobile penetration has opened SMS reminders, interactive voice response (IVR), WhatsApp groups and social media — cheap, targeted, two-way, and able to prompt at the right moment to close the intention-action gap.
But mind the divide: phone access skews male, richer, younger and urban. A digital-only campaign can quietly exclude the very people most in need.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series79www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Designing the Mix
Choose channels to fit audience and objective
  • Match the channel to the audience — what do they actually use and trust?
  • Match the channel to the job — awareness vs deep persuasion
  • Layer channels so they reinforce one consistent message
  • Sequence them — broadcast to seed, IPC to convert
  • Budget realistically — IPC is powerful but costly to scale
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series80www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
10
Section Ten
Campaigns & Community Engagement
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series81www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
The Cycle
The SBCC campaign cycle
01
ANALYSE: audience & behaviour
→
02
DESIGN: strategy, SOCO, channels
→
03
DEVELOP & PRETEST: materials
→
04
IMPLEMENT: roll out the mix
→
05
MONITOR & EVALUATE: learn & adapt
It is a loop, not a line. Findings from monitoring feed back into analysis and design — campaigns improve by iterating, not by launching once.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series82www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Strategy First
A campaign is a strategy, not a slogan
Behind every good campaign is a written communication strategy: the behaviour, the audiences, the barriers, the SOCO, the messages, the channels, the messengers and the indicators — agreed before any creative work.
The logo and tagline come last. Programmes that start with a slogan and reverse-engineer a strategy almost always miss the real barrier.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series83www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Community-Led
Community-led change beats top-down telling
When a community diagnoses its own problem and decides to act, the change holds. Outside messengers can catalyse, but ownership — not instruction — sustains behaviour.
People support what they help create.
— a principle of participatory development
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series84www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
CLTS
Community-Led Total Sanitation (Kamal Kar)
Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), pioneered by Kamal Kar in Bangladesh, abandons subsidies and lecturing. Instead, facilitators help a whole community confront the reality of open defecation and decide, collectively, to end it.
  • Triggering: a facilitated 'walk of shame' and self-realisation
  • Collective decision: the whole village commits, not individuals
  • Local solutions: people build toilets their own way
  • Goal: an open-defecation-free (ODF) community
CLTS works because it changes the norm and harnesses collective pride and shame — behaviour theory in action at community scale.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series85www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Entertainment-Education
Entertainment-education
Entertainment-education weaves behaviour-change messages into genuinely entertaining stories — TV serials, radio dramas, films — so audiences learn from characters they love, not lectures they tolerate.
It draws directly on Bandura: viewers model the choices of relatable, rewarded characters. South Asia's serial dramas have long carried messages on dowry, girls' education and family planning this way.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series86www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
FLW-Led IPC
Frontline workers and ASHA-led communication
India's vast frontline — ASHAs, ANMs and anganwadi workers — are the backbone of interpersonal SBCC. They carry messages the last mile, into homes, in the local idiom, from a familiar face.
~1 million+
ASHAs across India, embedded in their own villages
National Health Mission
Home-based
Counselling at the doorstep, repeatedly, over time
Their power depends on support: training, job aids, manageable workload and respect. Overloaded, untrained FLWs cannot persuade.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series87www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Group Engagement
Groups multiply individual change
Participatory learning and action groups — such as women's self-help groups and participatory women's groups — let members discuss problems, plan together and support each other through change.
Participatory women's group approaches have shown real promise for maternal and newborn health in South Asia — peer support turning knowledge into sustained practice.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series88www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Sustaining It
From campaign to lasting change
  • Repeat and reinforce — one burst rarely sticks
  • Build local ownership so change outlives the project
  • Make the new behaviour the visible norm
  • Remove the friction so the easy choice is the healthy one
  • Celebrate progress publicly to lock in the gain
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series89www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
11
Section Eleven
Monitoring, Ethics & Examples
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series90www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Measure What Matters
From exposure to behaviour
It is easy to count outputs — posters printed, spots aired — and mistake them for results. SBCC monitoring must follow the chain all the way to behaviour.
01
OUTPUTS: materials produced, sessions held
→
02
REACH / EXPOSURE: who saw or heard it
→
03
OUTCOMES: changed knowledge, attitude, norm
→
04
BEHAVIOUR: what people now actually do
→
05
IMPACT: health & wellbeing change
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series91www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Indicators
Indicators along the chain
LevelExample indicator
Exposure% who recall the campaign message
Knowledge% who correctly state when to use ORS
Attitude / norm% who believe neighbours approve of toilets
Intention% who intend to immunise their child
Behaviour% of children fully immunised
Recall is not behaviour. A campaign everyone remembers but no one acts on has failed at the only step that counts.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series92www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Indian Example
Handwashing with soap
Handwashing campaigns shifted from telling people that germs exist to building a habit tied to specific moments — after the toilet, before feeding a child — using cues, emotion (disgust, nurture) and repetition rather than facts alone.
Reported handwashing at key times, before vs after a campaign (illustrative)
Illustrative — not actual programme figures
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series93www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Indian Example
Immunisation — Mission Indradhanush
India's Mission Indradhanush paired service delivery with intensive communication — ASHA mobilisation, local influencers, addressing rumours and fears — to reach children who had been missed or partially immunised.
The lesson: communication and service must move together. Demand-generation without a reliable session, or sessions without demand, both fall short.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series94www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Indian Example
Swachh Bharat — sanitation at scale
The Swachh Bharat Mission combined infrastructure with one of the largest behaviour-change efforts ever attempted — mass media, celebrity endorsement, CLTS-style community triggering and frontline mobilisation to make toilet use the norm.
It also showed the limits of any campaign: building a toilet is not the same as using it. Sustained behaviour, not construction counts, is the real measure.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series95www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Indian Example
ORS — a quiet behaviour-change success
Promoting oral rehydration solution (ORS) for childhood diarrhoea is among the great public-health communication stories — shifting a simple, low-cost home practice across decades through repeated, consistent messaging and frontline counselling.
ORS shows SBCC at its best: a single, feasible behaviour, a clear benefit (a child who recovers), and patient, sustained promotion — not a one-off campaign.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series96www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Ethics
Persuasion that respects people
  • Avoid stigma: never shame the poor, the sick or the marginalised
  • Be truthful: no exaggerated fear or false promises
  • Respect autonomy: inform and enable, don't coerce
  • Do no harm: check that messages don't endanger anyone
  • Be inclusive: reach those usually left out
The line between a nudge and manipulation is honesty and the person's own interest. Stay on the right side of it — deliberately.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series97www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Avoiding Harm
When campaigns backfire
Stigma trap
Shaming open defecation can humiliate the poorest, who often lack means — not will — to build a toilet.
Norm trap
Saying 'most people still don't do X' tells the audience the bad behaviour is normal — reinforcing it.
Ethical SBCC is also effective SBCC. Respect, dignity and truth are not constraints on impact — they enable it.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series98www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Further Reading
Take it further
  • Diffusion of Innovations — Everett Rogers
  • Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion — Robert Cialdini
  • Nudge — Thaler & Sunstein; the EAST framework (BIT)
  • Behaviour Change Wheel & COM-B — Susan Michie and colleagues
  • Johns Hopkins CCP and UNICEF SBCC guidance & toolkits
Pair this deck with ImpactMojo's Public Health, Qualitative Methods and Monitoring & Evaluation 101 courses.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series99www.impactmojo.in
ImpactMojoBehaviour Change Communication 101www.impactmojo.in
Behaviour Change Communication 101 · Complete
Don't just inform.
Change what people do.
Knowledge rarely changes behaviour on its own. Find the real barrier, design for how minds and communities actually work, and meet people where they are. Explore the rest of the ImpactMojo 101 Series, free forever.
More 101 CoursesExplore ImpactMojoDataverse
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0·Free Forever·ImpactMojo 101 Series
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · ImpactMojo 101 Series100www.impactmojo.in