Outbreak and Crisis Response – Social Listening and Real-Time SBC

This cross-country experience demonstrates how embedding Social and Behavior Change (SBC) approaches within Case-Area Targeted Interventions (CATI) strengthened cholera outbreak response through participatory communication strategies and structured community feedback mechanisms- implemented in Mozambique's 2023 response and scaled in Angola's 2025 epidemic by UNICEF and Doctors with Africa CUAMM, in partnership with national and local health authorities. 
In Mozambique, during one of the country's largest outbreaks following Cyclone Freddy, the model demonstrated how enhancing traditional CATI with SBC approaches amplify impact. SBC programming enabled interpersonal communication, community dialogue, and systematic Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) mechanisms, while implementing the CATI approach. Communities became active agents of change through structured engagement on behavioral determinants, social norms around hygiene practices, and contextualized prevention strategies. 
In Angola, building on these lessons, the approach was implemented across Luanda Province from June 2025, amid one of the world's highest case fatality rates (2.8%). The model integrated digital monitoring tools while maintaining the SBC strong component of the CATI: behavior change communication grounded in community participation and feedback loops. Trained community health workers facilitated household and community-level behavior change through dialogue, social mobilization, and systematic feedback collection. This community-centered SBC strategy was integrated with epidemiological surveillance, vaccination campaigns, and clinical case management at Cholera Treatment Centres (CTCs) and Oral Rehydration Points (ORPs). 
These experiences demonstrate how strengthening CATI through dedicated SBC programming - emphasizing participatory communication and accountability mechanisms - can more effectively address behavioral and social determinants and improve outbreak response in fragile contexts.

In humanitarian emergencies, timely Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) interventions save lives. However, institutional delays often undermine the urgency and slows down timely response. Drawing on experience from Sightsavers and Ministry of Health partnerships in West Africa, this presentation examines three recurring factors that delay SBC interventions: (1) prolonged validation of technical tools by Ministries, which delays roll out; (2) ethical review mandates for qualitative assessments misaligned with crisis needs. (3) SBC is often treated as an afterthought rather than an integral component of humanitarian response planning with decisions dominated by biomedical and logistics priorities. We discuss cases where these constraints led to delayed messaging, reduced community acceptance, or missed opportunities during peak phases of crisis. We also include examples where pre‑approved SBC toolkit, rapid ethical review protocols, and prior MoU arrangements sped up responses without compromising quality. Finally, we propose actionable recommendations for policy and program practice: establish fast‑track validation paths, embed ethical review preparedness into humanitarian frameworks, and reposition SBC as integral to emergency planning. By reconciling speed and quality, or at least narrowing the gap, SBC can be more effective, equitable, and responsive in crisis settings.

La región de América Latina y el Caribe (LAC) enfrenta un panorama de salud pública altamente dinámico, marcado por brotes recurrentes (Fiebre Amarilla, Tosferina, Dengue) e intensas narrativas de desconfianza. Para garantizar una acción humanitaria efectiva, UNICEF LACRO ha implementado estrategias de escucha social (usando diversas plataformas, entre ellas I-Hear-U) con el soporte de la Inteligencia Artificial. Esta presentación demostrará cómo el marco de SCL, aplicado en siete países prioritarios, permite: 1) la detección temprana de preocupaciones y desinformación (como narrativas anti-vacunas); y 2) la generación de informes accionables que enlazan directamente las voces de la comunidad (ej. frustración por manejo de Dengue en Brasil) con las Oportunidades de actuar. El objetivo final es fortalecer la resiliencia colectiva al convertir la escucha en una herramienta de gestión programática en tiempo real.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a critical gap in global emergency preparedness: while technical capabilities advanced significantly, social dimensions-public trust, cooperation, and emotional resilience-proved limiting factors in response effectiveness. Current preparedness frameworks emphasize technical capacities with minimal indicators for public trust or social cohesion.
The Global Listening Project conducted one of the most extensive societal preparedness studies, surveying 70,000 respondents across 70 countries using nationally representative samples. Research identified three pillars that determine societal resilience: Willingness to Cooperate (institutional confidence and openness to guidance), Capacity to Organize (community trust and collective action), and Ability to Cope (personal resilience and access to support). These components form the Societal Preparedness Index (SPI), a pioneering metric measuring often-overlooked social dimensions of emergency preparedness.
This panel presents global study findings and discusses ongoing deep-dive research in the Philippines, Cameroon, and South Africa (N=2,000 per country), examining how trust dynamics, emotional responses, and fairness perceptions vary across contexts. Panelists explore relationships between demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and governance factors and preparedness indicators, demonstrating how vaccine acceptance serves as a tangible outcome measure for societal preparedness.
The discussion addresses critical questions for SBC practitioners: How do we measure crisis readiness beyond infrastructure? What communication strategies build trust ecosystems, enhancing public cooperation? How can social and behavioral change approaches strengthen the social fabric, determining emergency response effectiveness? This session provides actionable frameworks for integrating social dimensions into emergency preparedness planning and communication strategies.