This presentation will share a project 17 Triggers implemented with UNICEF Myanmar and the Myanmar WASH Cluster in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. In this session we will share how 17 Triggers and WASH cluster members implemented a HCD methodology in three Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps to conduct behavioral research and analysis to inform the design of a SBCC intervention to reduce open defecation among children 3-5 years. 


Our team spent over 30 days in the IDP camps of Sittwe, conducting user research ideateing and testing prototypes to reduce open defecation amongst children 3-5 years of age. A co-creation session with members of the WASH Cluster helped develop five interventions that were tested in the camps.


This presentation will stress the importance of testing initial assumptions and direct contextual observation before tackling a problem and spending time up front to discover the root cause(s) to behavior change adoption. In this project, we learned that the main barriers to behavior adoption was not primarily knowledge, but rather access and other social norms that limited behavior adoption. The project pivoted from a SBCC project to a co-design of a variety of products and services to enable more children to use latrines with supporting communication materials. 


A 5 week pilot was completed in March 2022 and initial results show significant reduction of open defecation in locations where child-friendly product solutions were installed. 

Since August 2017 an estimated 750,000 Rohingyas fled from Myanmar into Coxs Bazaar district of Bangladesh to escape extreme persecution and violence. Along with previous settlements, this became the largest humanitarian crisis of refugees in recent times. To meet information needs of, and accountability commitments to, both Rohingya and host communities, UNICEF and partners - BITA and ACLAB have launched a comprehensive feedback system that entails feedback loops and follow-up actions at multiple levels. Twenty Information Feedback Centers (IFCs) have been established as one-stop shops for information-provision, dialogue and referrals to services as a part of this system. IFCs receive and respond to community queries, feedback and complaints (QFC), and promote practices for community health and social wellbeing. Each IFC is managed by three Information Service-Providers (ISPs) who are trained on rapid feedback provision, inter-personal communication, demonstration of key life-saving messages/behaviors, service referrals, dissemination of IEC materials, and Open Data Kit (ODK) application. QFCs are recorded in logbooks, digitalized anonymously through the ODK system and responded to everyday. Aggregated data is available publicly and disseminated among institutional partners and at sector/system-level to identify trends in community needs, grievances and improve services. Total CFQs received until September 2019 are 122,418, of which 93% have been resolved at the camp-level itself. Additional methods and approaches such as IFC/community accountability study (CAS) and triangulation of third-party assessments are being used to ensure feedback loops are complete and the system is responsive across levels.

Humanitarian aid aims to protect people's lives. Among the best ways to do so is through enabling people to adopt high-impact behaviours relating to health and nutrition. Those who are usually given this task are local 'agents of change' - community volunteers, health workers, and others. While they are often trained on the behaviours they promote, the attention given to how to promote these behaviours effectively is limited. As a result, they resort to what they know the best from school: lecturing people. Such top-down 'awareness raising' is often ineffective and limits the impact of SBC in humanitarian aid. Therefore, humanitarian agency ADRA Yemen has identified the key gaps in the SBC skills of 305 local 'agents of change' and then responded by providing 'low-density, high-frequency' support to addressing these gaps. The approach resulted in a significant increase in the use of effective SBC communication / facilitation practices and higher commitment among the 'agents of change'. Its impact on the adoption of promoted behaviours will be assessed by a follow-up survey in September 2022. This field-tested approach has a high potential for scale-up both within Yemen and in other protracted crises. A training module, standard operating procedures, and useful lessons practical experience are available for further use. The most required change now concerns humanitarian agencies: to recognize that SBC takes more than delivering leaflets and 'awareness raising sessions' and invest in strengthening frontline workers' SBC skills so that they become true 'agents of change'.