Strategic Behavioral Communication (SBC)

Strategic Behavioral Communication (SBC), the FHI brand of Behavior Change Communication, is the integration of marketing principles and behavioral and social science. With an evidence-based theoretical foundation grounded in behavioral science, SBC utilizes best practices from the commercial marketing sector and integrates a number of key marketing principles, including a consumer focus where beneficiaries are a crucial part of the process;  the exchange theory, which recognizes that change involves giving up a current behavior in exchange for another; and the marketing mix, which goes beyond promotion to designing strategies that make healthy choices easier choices.

 

FHI applies Strategic Behavioral Communication across all of its Public Health Programs (PHP), from HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment to reproductive health and other infectious and chronic diseases, with the goal of increasing knowledge, shifting attitudes, and ultimately impacting behavior. SBC drives environmental as well as individual change in an effort to create enabling environments that make health-seeking and low risk behaviors achievable.

 

Strategic Behavioral Communication is a participatory, collaborative process where FHI behavioral scientists work closely with communication and creative experts in over 40 countries to develop behavior change interventions that bring together the power of art, the accuracy of science, and the relevance of local cultural values and traditions. And to ensure innovation and impact in all of its behavior change programming, FHI utilizes proprietary planning tools and quality criteria from inception to evaluation.