Social and behavior change

FHI 360 applies a social and behavior change (SBC) and behavioral science lens — in collaboration with individuals, households, communities and institutions — to understand and address the complex interplay of individual, social and structural determinants that drive poor health and development outcomes. We believe that social change and behavior change are at the heart of our global work and are vital to achieving our health and development goals.

Globally, we select interactive, participatory strategies to ensure a comprehensive approach that addresses people’s desires, needs, barriers and facilitators to change across a range of health and development objectives. Our SBC work integrates best practices from disciplines such as behavior change communication, psychology, human-centered design, anthropology, behavioral economics, social marketing, and other behavioral sciences. In the United States, we use strategic communication and social marketing to address complex issues such as obesity, HIV, and community health. 

Featured resource

The Blueprint for More Sustainable Social and Behavior Change Systems

The SBC Blueprint is a guide for governments, funders, SBC implementers, researchers and others to understand and strengthen SBC systems at the country level.

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FHI 360’s approach to social and behavior change

• Solutions grounded in behavioral theory
  We apply FHI 360’s ADDED (Audience-driven Demand, Design and Delivery) Framework, based upon a Socio-ecological Model for Change, to address a range of individual, social, and structural determinants of social change and behavior change, across health and development sectors. The ADDED Framework represents FHI 360’s behavior-centered approach to SBC and our emphasis on supporting positive social change. It also ensures the use of participatory and human-centered methodologies with audiences and communities. These strategies are applied from the initial design of SBC strategies through their delivery and evaluation.

• Applied SBC research and human-centered design
  Our staff includes experts in social and behavioral research, participatory research approaches and human-centered design, who partner with regional- and country-level researchers and practitioners to ensure our programs are locally driven, evidence-based and tailored to the context. We apply FHI 360’s SBC Adaptive Management Framework to ensure that data and feedback are routinely collected and applied systematically across a project life cycle to strengthen program quality and demonstrate impact.
• Community-led programming
  FHI 360 works together with local actors to understand what people and communities want — or desire — and to design and deliver activities with them to address a range of complex SBC needs. In doing so, we support locally sustained change that increases demand for essential products and services, moves audiences from intention to action, and facilitates social action for social change and behavior change.
• Application of SBC solutions to integrated health and multisectoral challenges 
  Across countries, FHI 360 has advanced the field in understanding what works in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of integrated health SBC programming. Our multisectoral expertise has also made us a leader in the application of SBC approaches to behavioral challenges outside of health, such as agriculture and food security, climate and conservation, education, gender equity and social inclusion, and democracy and governance. 
• Capacity and systems strengthening
  Our approach to SBC capacity and institutional strengthening involves working with actors throughout the SBC system to strengthen individual-, organizational- and systems-level capacities and structures in sustainable and meaningful ways.