Virtual Panel and Dialogue: Social and Behaviour Change and the Convention of the Rights of the Child - Contributions from the Latin American Region

"...the ideas and experiences of Latin American thinkers and practitioners in the field of communication for social change in Latin America have been crucial to the transformations of the field."

On December 4 2024, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), The Communication Initiative (The CI), La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CI LA), and the Universidad del Norte (UNINORTE) held a dialogue to reflect on and discuss current trends in social and behaviour change (SBC), specifically as they relate to the Latin American experience and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Intended for The CI's global network, UNICEF staff from other regions, other UN and cooperation agencies, civil society organisations, decision-makers, and academia, this dialogue (held in English) was the second dialogue, with the first one convened in October 2024 in Spanish. This summary provides access to the recording itself (click on the video below), as well as background information on the dialogue, descriptions of the presenters and their key discussion points, and access to the presentations. 

The specific objectives of the dialogue were to: 
 

• Inform participants about LAC perspectives and approaches to communication and social change, such as social mobilisation, citizen media, SBC strategies, edutainment, and decolonial perspectives;
• Reflect on the role of SBC and the rights of children in light of the 35th anniversary of the CRC and the development of a new General Comment 27, which focuses on children's rights to access justice and effective remedy; and
• Identify common ground and contributions from regional perspectives that can enrich and inform global discussions and SBC practices related to child rights.

The discussion is built around an acknowledgement of the important contributions of SBC to realising the rights of children and the general well-being and full development of children. UNICEF, in particular, has a longstanding tradition in the areas of SBC, engaging in structured efforts such as C4D and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), addressing social norms, tackling social rumours and misinformation, raising awareness, and disseminating information. UNICEF has also been a leading global actor in the shift from communication for development (C4D) towards an SBC perspective - an approach that involves more evidence-based interdisciplinary collaboration and participatory processes and allows for the incorporation of cosmovision, knowledge, and the needs of organisations, communities, and peoples in diverse territories. Mostly, the shift in approach seeks to define and implement effective interventions that address the social barriers to change.

Over the past two years, the SBC team at the regional UNICEF Office for the LAC region has been especially committed to creating spaces for critical reflection, fostering knowledge exchange, and enhancing technical capacities in SBC in partnership with UNINORTE. The CI and its regional platform CI LA - who have for years collected a robust body of knowledge, shared information, and facilitated dialogue on social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) processes in the field - have joined this collaborative effort to amplify and expand the debate on SBC. This dialogue is part of that process.

After a welcome by Adelaida Trujillo, Director of CI LA, the event was opened by moderator Cássia Ayres (SBC Manager, UNICEF LACRO), who spoke about the role of The CI's Executor Director, Warren Feek in helping to plan this dialogue, as well as the October dialogue, before his untimely death on October 17 2024. Ayres said she is honoured to take on the role of moderator in his stead. She dedicated the virtual gathering to his memory and to his permanent presence in the field of SBC.

Ayres joined respondents Rafael Obregón Galvez (UNICEF Representative in Nicaragua) and Chris Morry (Programme Director, The CI) in discussing the presentations and drawing conclusions and recommendations for the way forward. The four panellists and their presentations were as follows (click on the title to access presentation slides or notes):
 
Title: "CRC@35 and the General Comment nº27 - Access to Justice and Effective Remedies: Contributions from Children, Adolescents, and other Stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Presenter: Ludmilla Palazzo, focal point to child and adolescents' rights in UNICEF, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO)
Presentation summary: This presentation offers some background information on the CRC and the General Comment nº27 and then goes on to share the results of a study that was conducted by UNICEF LACRO around children's understanding of and access to justice. Between September and November 2024, around 1,000 children and adolescents participated in focus groups and 4,000 in a U-Report digital survey to share their opinions, which would be used to contribute to the General Comment Nº27. The study looked at: What access to justice means for them, what they know about their rights, the barriers to exercising their rights, their perception of the role of the state and institutions, and the possible ways to report or complain when their rights are unmet, disrespected, or violated. The presentation also shared the results of a study that sought to understand stakeholders' views on the concept of justice and access to justice for children, the importance of specialised professionals for children and adolescents and their views on institutional monitoring and evaluating practices, and institutional funding. 

Title: "The History of Child Rights and the Relationship with (C4D) SBC"
Presenter: Robert Cohen, Founder of Rain Barrel Communications and ex-UNICEF C4D and speechwriter to James Grant in the CRC process in 1989
Presentation summary: In this presentation, Robert Cohen, who was the speechwriter for  UNICEF Executive Director Jim Grant in the 1990s, shares his memories of the impact of the CRC, which was ratified in 1989, and how his work has given him a deep appreciation for Latin America's longstanding intellectual leadership in the field of social change communication. He shares how, under Grant's leadership, a child rights perspective was integrated into all of UNICEF's work to incorporate child protection and child participation, how Grant had understood that communication was always at the heart of achieving children's rights, and how very much aware he was of Latin America's leadership in the use of communication, social mobilisation, community engagement, and advocacy for social change. In conclusion, Cohen notes that the children's rights agenda faces new and formidable challenges due to the strengthening of the far right in many parts of the globe, including Latin America, and that SBC now has an even more important role to play. "UNICEF (especially in Latin America) is the best communicating and advocating agency of the UN. Our SBC, advocacy and communication efforts are needed now more than ever."

Title: "Social and Behavior Change and Latin American Perspectives: Framework of Experiences of Appropriation and Adaptation - Social + Behaviour Change LACR"
Presenter: Markel Méndez - SBC specialist in UNICEF LACRO
Presentation summary: This presentation looks at why is it important to think of SBC from a Latin American perspective, highlighting the unique contributions of Latin American theoretical models and strategies to the field. Méndez makes the point that SBC strategies and approaches need to be contextualised to maximise their reach and effectiveness through the recognition of the different realities they are interacting with, and they should acknowledge the specific knowledge, techniques, and strategies of each context. In particular, the LAC region offers both a theoretical and a practical set of ideas and experiences that, in their uniqueness, can serve as an inspiration and even be extrapolated to other regions to nurture dialogues and debates in the field of SBC.

The presentation discusses the most salient of these theoretical models (which, for example, emphasise empowerment, feeling and empathy, decolonial thinking, and participation) and the LAC region's leading role and key contributions to other methods and approaches such as edutainment, participatory action research, social art, collective action, and interpersonal communication. He makes the point that key to these contributions is the unique Latin American experience of concepts such as agency, self-determination, participation, and empowerment, which stress that the solutions to social change lie in the communities.

Title: "C+ for a Positive Parenting - Towards Respectful, Sensitive, and Healthy Parenting Practices. An intervention experience from the Social and Behavioral Change framework and the Convention on the Rights of the Child"
Presenter: Luciana Lirman, Communication Officer for Adolescent Participation and SBC, UNICEF Argentina Country Office
Presentation summary: This presentation takes a practical view to describe how an early childhood development programme focusing on parenting - the C+ for a Positive Parenting initiative - has incorporated some of the Latin American approaches discussed in the previous presentations. The main objective of C+ is to involve families, change their attitudes around parenting practices, and provide them with tools to encourage other families in the community to acquire new responsive parenting practices between parents and children. The programme consists of three lines of intervention: community awareness around parenting, actions towards families, and actions with educational and care institutions. She explains how the theoretical framework was based on two approaches: SBC, and the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF). The intersection of both frameworks captures knowledge, attitudes, and practices around parenting and identifies intervention opportunities to promote more responsive, protective, and developmental care environments.

Next Steps
Going forward, the plan is to develop further online dialogues in 2025, with recommendations on specific steps and actions to strengthen the SBC approach based on contributions from SBC LAC perspectives and approaches. In addition, dialogue organisers intend to identify SBC discussion trends from LAC and other regions to be incorporated in the next SBCC Summit to be held in Panamá in March 2026.
 

Click on the video below to watch the recording (1:33:29).