Social Behavior Change Communication: Creating - USAID - (2012)

This is the third stage of USAID's SBCC program. Once SBCC practitioners are confident about their strategy (developed in the second stage), USAID recommends forming flexible, creative methods of applying their strategy, rather than doing what's worked for the group before. Careful planning of communication activities and materials is necessary for achieving goals. Stage 3, Creating, helps practitioners to find their way through creating and testing effective communication products: toolkits, facilitation manuals for group interaction, training manuals for counseling, job aids for service providers, websites, an interactive web-based process, TV or radio scripts, comic book or drama scripts, posters, brochures, and much more. Remember that most materials do not stand alone; they support certain interventions or activities. For example, posters and billboards normally work as reminders of the messages and content of more intense or interactive communication activities. Activities can also support materials. For example, peer education sessions can engage audiences around messages of a television or radio campaign. It is important to think about how activities and materials support each other during the process of creating.