What Is the SBCC Framework? A Practical Guide

What SBCC means

Social and behavior change communication, or SBCC, is an evidence-based approach that uses communication to change behaviors and the social conditions that shape them. It goes beyond telling people what to do. It asks why people act as they do, who influences them, and what makes change easier or harder.

The SBCC framework guides how this is done in practice. It gives program teams a shared language and a step-by-step process so that communication is strategic, targeted and measurable rather than a collection of posters and radio spots.

The socio-ecological model

At the heart of the SBCC framework is the socio-ecological model. It recognizes that behavior is influenced at several levels at once:

• Individual: knowledge, beliefs, skills, emotions and self-efficacy.
• Interpersonal: partners, family, friends and peers.
• Community: leaders, social norms, networks and local media.
• Organizational and service: health facilities, schools, workplaces and providers.
• Policy and enabling environment: laws, policies, budgets and infrastructure.

Good SBCC programs work across several levels. For example, a family planning program might combine couple counseling, community dialogues, provider training and advocacy for youth-friendly policy.

Three core SBCC strategies

• Advocacy

  Influencing leaders, policy makers and decision makers to create a supportive environment and resources.

• Social mobilization

  Engaging communities, groups and networks to build participation and shared action.

• Behavior change communication

  Interpersonal, community, media and digital communication aimed at specific audiences and behaviors.

The SBCC process

Most SBCC process models, including the widely used P-Process and the resources on The Compass for SBC, follow a similar sequence:

1. 01

   Analyze

   Understand the problem, audiences, behaviors and context through formative research.

2. 02

   Design the strategy

   Set behavioral objectives, choose audiences, messages, channels and activities.

3. 03

   Develop and test

   Create materials and activities and pretest them with audiences.

4. 04

   Implement and monitor

   Roll out, track quality and reach, and adapt.

5. 05

   Evaluate and plan for continuity

   Measure outcomes and share learning.

Our own SBCC methodology follows this logic with four phases: Discover, Design, Deploy and Measure.

IEC vs BCC vs SBCC

These terms are often used interchangeably in ToRs, but they mean different things:

• IEC (information, education and communication) focuses on producing and distributing information. It assumes that knowledge leads to action, which is often not true.
• BCC (behavior change communication) targets specific individual behaviors with tailored communication, but can overlook the social and structural context.
• SBCC combines communication at individual, community and policy levels and pays attention to norms, services and the environment.
• SBC goes further still, including non-communication approaches such as service design and nudges. See behavioral audits and nudge design.

Theories behind the SBCC framework

SBCC draws on several theories. The health belief model looks at perceived risk and benefits. The theory of planned behavior adds attitudes, norms and perceived control. Diffusion of innovations explains how new practices spread through a community. Behavioral economics shows how biases, defaults and timing affect choices.

Practitioners rarely use a single theory. Instead, they choose the ideas that best explain the behavior in front of them, often guided by formative research.

Applying the SBCC framework

If you are designing a program or writing a ToR, the framework helps you ask the right questions: Which behaviors matter most? Who needs to change, and who influences them? What stands in the way? How will we know if it worked?

For help, see our guide on how to write an SBCC ToR or contact us.

An example of the SBCC framework in practice

Imagine a county wants more women to deliver in health facilities. An IEC approach might print posters about the benefits of facility delivery. An SBCC framework approach would first ask why women deliver at home. Research might show that transport at night is the main barrier, that mothers-in-law prefer traditional birth attendants, and that some women had poor experiences with staff.

The resulting strategy would work at several levels: birth preparedness counseling and savings groups for families (individual and interpersonal), dialogues with mothers-in-law and traditional birth attendants (community), respectful maternity care training (service), and advocacy for an emergency transport scheme (policy). Communication is central, but it is linked to the real barriers.

Why the SBCC framework works

The SBCC framework improves programs in three ways. It focuses effort on the behaviors and audiences that matter most. It encourages teams to address the social and structural factors that keep behaviors in place. And it builds in measurement, so programs can learn and improve over time. These benefits are why donors and governments increasingly expect a clear SBCC framework in program proposals and strategies.

Getting started

If you are planning a program, start small: pick one priority behavior, gather the evidence you already have, and talk to the people you want to reach. Then map who influences them and what stands in the way. These simple steps will tell you which levels and strategies matter most, and where to focus your budget. Our resources page lists toolkits that can help at each step.

Measuring results

Measurement is built in from the start. Programs set behavioral objectives during strategy design and choose indicators for each level of the socio-ecological model, such as knowledge and intention for individuals, discussion within families, community norms, service quality and policy changes. They then track these indicators during implementation and evaluate outcomes at the end. This makes it possible to see not only whether behavior changed, but why. See SBCC monitoring and evaluation.