Agency for All, a five-year USAID project generating evidence on the role of agency in effective Social and Behavior Change (SBC) programming to improve health and well-being for individuals and communities, recently concluded a week-long capacity building training for SBC practitioners and researchers at Makerere University School of Public Health.
This was part of a pilot program co-designed by AS-SBC, University of Witwatersrand, and Makerere University with a contextually relevant curriculum to address local challenges and opportunities and equip participants with practical tools for developing and implementing impactful SBC interventions.
The much-anticipated SBC Planning: Integrating Agency, Social Norms, and Gender training, held between April 8-12, 2024, provided over 25 participants from South Asia, West, South, and East Africa with skills on how to integrate agency, social norms, and gender in designing, implementing, and evaluating SBC programs. It further provided Global South practitioners and researchers with networking opportunities.
The Board Chairperson of the African Society for Social and Behaviour Change, Mr. Robby Muhumuza, thanked USAID for funding the training, which advanced SBC professionalism and collaboration across Africa; “We are grateful for the partners that have worked together to make this training possible; Agency for All powered by USAID, Wits University, Makerere University, Resilience Africa Network (RAN), African Society for Social and Behaviour Change and all of you represented here. Going by the calibre of the facilitators in terms of academic qualifications and extensive professional experience as well as the training methodology, there is no doubt this has been an excellent training experience for all of you,” Muhuza eloquently stated.
He stated that your stay here was worthwhile. Before presenting certificates, Muhuza said, “You leave more enlightened, inspired, and energized, with more tools in your toolkit as a programmer and practitioner of SBC. Your programs will now include agency, social norms, and gender in design, implementation, monitoring, and assessment.
The five-day training course covered norms, agency, and gender in SBC programming before diving into Behavioral Insights (BI), Human Centered Design (HCD), Social Change (SC), Risk Communication, and Community Engagement (RCCE) in SBC program framing. Participants then learned how to undertake contextual community analysis of norms, agency, actions, and their antecedents, including measurement.
The participants visited Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, on Day Three of the training and interacted with the local community. They then designed an evidence-based SBC strategy that considered norms, agency, and gender and presented it to the group. Participants completed by comprehending SBC program monitoring and evaluation concepts, SBC power, culture, and ethical issues, and the necessity to work in multidisciplinary and cross-cultural teams before obtaining their professional certificates.
Ms. Allison Zelkavitz from Save the Children Centre for Utilizing Behaviour Insights for Children (CUBIC) listens in to Dr. Sara Jewett of University of Witwatersrand during the training.
Prof. Paul Bakuluki and Dr. Victoria Flavia Namuggala of Makerere University, Prof. Nicola Christofides and Dr. Sara Jewett of University of Witwatersrand, Ms. Allison Zelkavitz from Save the Children Centre for Utilizing Behaviour Insights for Children (CUBIC), Mr. James Kakande from Soland Associated Consults, and Mr. Kenneth Mulondo and Mr. Daudi Ochieng from AS-SBC led the sessions
"We should consider social norms, gender, and agency when planning a program or community transformation. As an academic and researcher, I always think about how people change and what factors help them change," says Dr. Ivan Lukanda, a Senior Lecturer at Makerere University's Department of Journalism and Communication.
Like Dr. Lukanda from Uganda, Ms. Shikha Rana from India and Daleen Saleh Shamalie from Nigeria were impressed by the training program's opportunity to share Social and Behavior Change experience and network with SBC professionals.
Mrs. Rana, a Monitoring and Evaluation professional who heads the research program at Sambodhi, India, on health systems, maternal, and reproductive health in South Asia, said the training was relevant because it addressed agency and social norms.
“The sessions on behavioral insights and measurements for norms was something that was really helpful for me because I could visualize that in my work. The training has been very helpful for me especially learning from the colleagues from here in Uganda and the examples they have been giving of some of the campaigns they have run here and how then it translates into actual implementation and what measurement might look like,” said Rana.
AS-SBC’s Muhumuza challenged graduates from the pilot USAID Agency For All Social and Behavior Change course to translate their newfound knowledge into use, saying: “You have learned new concepts, strategies and tactics in SBC. Please go and put them into action.”
By John Okeya
