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BEHAVIOR
CHANGE COMMUNICATION
Promoting positive change in adolescent behavior is a complex process requiring an understanding of culture, as well as behavior. Behavior change communication (BCC) approaches recognize that presenting facts alone does not ensure behavior change. BCC strategies are designed to accommodate the stage of behavior adoption of an individual or group, and to cultivate skills integrally needed to enable and sustain change. Pre-award assessments of AYA countries have shown that past communication efforts have focused on knowledge and attitudes, but have had mixed impact on behavior. Under AYA, PATH's BCC approach focuses on promoting behaviors that appear most promising in reducing unwanted pregnancy, exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, and coercive sex. Definition BCC is the process of using communication approaches and tools to —
Within the African Youth Alliance, PATH's behavior change communication efforts aim to reach youth and their communities via a range of communication channels and approaches to facilitate, rather than dictate, change. BCC approaches recognize that the source of the message and the social legitimacy of the change are important to youth. Adolescents are often affected greatly by social pressures exerted not only by their adolescent peers, but also by their larger communities. Therefore, BCC activities address the larger context that affects individual behavior— culture, societal norms, and laws and policies. AYA's BCC efforts will also focus on community change. BCC strategies at the community level use participatory community and social change techniques to involve communities at the local level. Participatory learning and action approaches (PLA) foster community decision-making, which helps ensure that change is facilitated and grown from within, rather than dictated by outside sources. AYA will use PLA methods to gain community acceptance at project entry and as formative research to obtain qualitative data. AYA will also coordinate BCC activities with the system-wide changes required to structurally facilitate desired behaviors. For example, unmarried teens should be welcomed and served in reproductive health clinics, and male and female condoms should be accessible and affordable. Strategic Approaches/ Guiding Principles PATH's approach to BCC under AYA incorporates principles and strategies that build on what we have learned from successful STI programs for adolescents. Principles
While AYA recognizes the wide diversity among youth, BCC strategies are adapted to the characteristics associated with adolescence. For example, young people are generally concerned with body and self-image as well as success; therefore, AYA uses role models to capture their interest. Early adolescents are concrete thinkers who often do not perceive the consequences of their actions, so AYA uses learning-by-doing approaches and the Life Planning Skills (LPS) methodology. Experimentation and testing boundaries are normal aspects of adolescent development; BCC efforts aim to create excitement and introduce new opportunities for youth involvement while creating and sustaining a safe environment. AYA's communication strategies are also adapted for different groups of adolescents, such as in- and out-of-school youth. Sex/HIV education and youth development/life skills approaches help to reach youth in schools, while peer education programs and mass media reach out-of-school youth. Whenever possible, BCC strategies use existing resources and institutionalize program efforts to strengthen sustainability. For example, the content for the LPS methodology comes from a combination of PATH materials and existing curricula being used by our partners. AYA's LPS program will complement and reinforce existing curricula. AYA will work with government education agencies to institutionalize the LPS curricula in schools. Linkage to other Program Areas All BCC strategies and activities are linked to key AYA outcomes, which include increasing condom use and reducing pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and STIs. To ensure the greatest program impact, activities are prioritized according to their potential effect on these outcomes. Despite their relevance to adolescents, other areas of concern are not a focus of AYA's BCC activities. BCC efforts seek to promote healthy reproductive and sexual behavior among youth and are coordinated with and supportive of youth-friendly services and other AYA program areas: policy and advocacy, institutional capacity building, livelihoods, and coordination and dissemination. Evaluation Methods Monitoring and evaluation assesses the impact of program efforts on key AYA indicators and coordination across the program. BCC evaluation activities will focus on maximizing impact and reach, scaling-up promising models, and integration of BCC with other AYA program components. Quantitative methods of monitoring and evaluation will provide numerical information about the impact of coverage of BCC interventions for key groups of youth, while qualitative methods will examine the pathways of change and why specific interventions were successful or not. In addition, participatory methodologies will be used to collect information about the process and effectiveness of interventions from the audiences we are trying to reach, and, simultaneously, to reinforce behavior change messages. Notes —
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