The Context

DAHW is a German-based, international NGO operating in 19 countries with the main objective to reduce the medical and social burden of poverty-related diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and other neglected tropical diseases. Working with the most marginalised communities across Latin America, West and East Africa, and Asia, DAHW provides on the ground support and aims to reduce stigma and shift social norms within and for the communities they serve.

To support DAHW’s mission, MAGENTA developed a bespoke social and behaviour change capacity building programme with a particular focus on communications, and co-designed an SBCC framework to support the organisation in their global work.

The MAGENTA Academy Approach

The MAGENTA Academy, MAGENTA’s training and capacity building institution, designed and delivered a tailored SBCC theory and practice capacity building programme with a particular focus on health, social norms and stigma to address DAHW’s organisational needs. DAHW practitioners participated in four workshops to enhance their understanding of how to apply social and behaviour change principles to their work to achieve complex and ambitious ouctomes. MAGENTA’s expert trainers developed two in-person workshops for SBCC focal points and a two online workshops for broader teams to build capacity and fill knowledge gaps across the organisation, based on a rapid needs assessment.

The MAGENTA Academy’s pedagogy uses a mixed methods approach that includes a combination of presentation, group exercises and discussion to:

1. Understand the theoretical underpinning

2. Know specific processes to apply said theory

3. Have practiced the application of the theory and process

What we did

1. Inception Phase: MAGENTA conducted a rapid assessment of DAHW’s priority programmes, operational footprint and knowledge and use of SBCC best-practice. The rapid needs assessment highlighted whilst many DAHW colleagues are aware of SBCC, they were unfamiliar with the Behavioural Driver Model and how to apply SBC principles to design meaningful interventions.

   • Kick off

   • Rapid desk review

   • Rapid needs assessment

2. SBCC Focal Point Training: MAGENTA designed a two-day bespoke workshop on SBC foundations, the Behavioural Drivers Model (BDM) and a five-step framework to design, implement and evaluate SBCC interventions. Six participants were hosted in MAGENTA’s offices in Tunis, Tunisia, and had the opportunity to apply each core section of the capacity building workshop in practice through group exercises tailored specifically to DAHW’s context and mission. The participants found the BDM materials particularly helpful in their work to shift social norms and address stigma.

   • Two-day in-person workshop with SBCC Focal Points

   • Focus on SBC principles and a five-step SBCC framework

3. SBCC Broad Training: MAGENTA delivered a tailored SBC in a Day course to 40 DAHW participants online over two half-days. The participant were taken through SBC foundations including the BDM, behavioural research, how to design SBC interventions through an SBC theory of change, how to implement interventions including piloting and scale up, and monitoring and evaluating SBC programmes.

   • Two-day remote workshop with 40 DAHW colleagues around the world

   • SBC in a Day trainingp

4. SBCC Framework: MAGENTA designed a bespoke SBCC framework for DAHW to take forward, giving the organisation the tools and processed needed to identify the target behaviour, identify the target audience, design the SBC intervention, test and pilot the intervention, and scale-up accordingly. The final framework will be implemented and disseminated by DAHW.

   • Developed DAHW bespoke SBCC framework

Impact

DAHW’s current SBC design process is often rooted in identifying the intervention or using standard methods and approaches, before identifying the behaviour the organisation seeks to address, the drivers behind the behaviour and the target audience. Participants also noted the most commonly used methods of implementation are community engagement and advocacy. MAGENTA encouraged DAHW colleagues to start by identifying the objective, and above all using the BDM or a similar SBC framework to unpick the drivers behind identified behaviours to design effective interventions that specifically address the root causes. By the end of the workshop, participants noted the effectiveness of taking for SBC approaches to intervention design in a way that starts with the objective rather than the activity to achieve more impact. Participants also recognised the need and value in co-design and co-creation on current ambitions to contribute to enhanced delivery and outcomes.