The Journal of Development Communication: Special Issue - SBCC Summit

In April 2018, more than 1,200 people gathered at the 2018 International Social and Behavior Change Communication [SBCC] Summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. Practitioners, researchers, donors, and leaders from more than 400 organisations travelled to Nusa Dua from 93 different countries. This issue of the Journal of Development Communication (JDC) (see Related Summaries, below) features a number of papers prepared by Summit participants based on their presentations. They cover a range of challenges - from using storytelling to help fishermen in Belize deal with threats to their occupations, to influencing adolescent girls and boys in India to address gender discrimination and stereotyping, to the use of social media to change norms regarding babies' health in Malawi. In addition, the issue presents other highlights of the Summit proceedings, documenting some of the deliberations of the Summit and the evidence of the potential impact of SBCC. The Summit programme included reports on an array of entertainment-education (E-E) initiatives, examining what E-E approaches and issues are especially well suited for achieving SBCC impact.

Summit attendees also discussed the importance of greater support among policymakers and decision-makers for SBCC, and also the importance of documenting evidence to help advocate among government, donors, and private sector leaders for the incorporation of support for SBCC in development programmes. The Summit Declaration - drafted during the Summit with inputs from attendees and further shaped through online consultation after the Summit - was developed to serve as a tool for advocacy among these stakeholders. The Declaration appears in the pages of the Journal. In addition, the emergence of a Global Alliance of SBCC people and organisations was reviewed and formally launched at the Summit, and an opinion piece later in this issue explores its potential role and importance.

Contents include:

• Editorial
• Declaration of the 2018 International Social and Behaviour Change Communication Summit
• Human Centred Design to Prevent Child Marriage in Indonesia - by Felice Bakker, Nur Hidayati Handayani, Emilie Minnick, and Rizky Syafitri
• A Radio Drama for Apes? An Entertainment-Education Approach to Supporting Ape Conservation Through an Integrated Human Behaviour, Health, and Environment Serial Drama - by Kriss Baker, Fatou Jah, and Scott Connolly
• Hold My Hand - by Ngbita Pendje-Wallace and Dominique Thaly
• Community Media for Social and Behaviour Change - by Kristina Granger, Peggy Koniz-Booher, Sarah Cunningham, Gwyneth Cotes, and John Nicholson
• Not Enough Fish in the Sea - by Loretta Cheung and Amanda Brown
• Comparing the Cost-Effectiveness of Mass Media Long-Running Entertainment-Education (EE) for Social and Behaviour Change in Africa - by Fatou Jah, Scott Connolly and William Ryerson
• Strengthening Lives, Shifting Behaviour - by Sonali Paul
• Challenging Gendered Realities with Transmedia for Indian Adolescents - by Ragini Pasricha, Radharani Mitra, and Sonia Whitehead
• Tune Me - by Renata Tallarico Tallarico, Tamsen De Beer, Maria Bakaroudis, Ambika Samarthya-Howard, and Hannah Baust Markus
• Khanda Ndi Mphatso - by Gedesi Banda, Tanya Guenther, Kondwani Chavula, Mary Kinney, Lara Vaz, Katie Cundale, and Antje Becker-Benton
• The Emergence of SBCC - [Interview with] Susan Krenn
• [Opinion:] The Global Alliance for Social and Behaviour Change Building Informed and Engaged Societies - by Rafael Obregon and Warren Feek
• Book Review

The SBCC Summit was hosted by a Secretariat consisting of a consortium of partners including Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, The Communication Initiative, Soul City Institute, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and BBC Media Action. The Summit will continue to be held every two years.