In Uganda, childhood immunization data continues to show gross underperformance in coverage of pentavalent (DPT3) and measles-rubella (MR1) vaccines. Amolatar District, located in the Lango Sub-region of northern Uganda, continually registered a high number of unimmunized children. 
The USAID RHITES-N, Lango project supported the district Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) focal persons to identify and orient peer mothers on the use of interpersonal communication (IPC). This skill enabled peer mothers to communicate with women on the benefits of childhood vaccinations and to encourage them seek services. Trained health care workers supported peer mothers to line-list unimmunized/missed appointments for DPT3 and MR1 vaccines from 2020 to 2021 using the child register, which provides contact information.
Of the 78 (55 DPT3 and 23 MR1) children on the defaulter list, 73 (94%) were traced within two weeks and reached with key messages on childhood immunization; 31(20 DPT3 and 9 MR1) were referred to a health facility and vaccinated; 36 were actually vaccinated, as reflected on their child health cards. 
Childhood immunization coverage in the district improved (January– March 2022) due to peer mother-led door to door interpersonal communication defaulter tracing. Reasons given by the 31 identified caregivers for missed vaccine appointment included lack of information/knowledge, forgetfulness, and long distances to vaccination service points.

The Good Participatory Practice guidelines (UNAIDS and AVAC, 2011) recognize barriers to understanding HIV science as one of the major roadblocks to equitable and mutually beneficial collaboration between communities and HIV research teams. To address this, we experimented with experiential learning and gamification techniques to help democratize and humanize HIV science for communities through simulated experiences and community conversations. We identified common information needs of communities and the primary reasons for mistrust in HIV research. These centered around a lack of understanding of current gaps in HIV science, and how collaborative research could bridge them to improve human understanding of critical aspects such as HIV viral diversity, latency, drug resistance, and broadly neutralizing antibodies. To explain these complex concepts through relevant and culturally appropriate experiences, we designed simulation games to help deconstruct the fundamental biological mechanisms of HIV using familiar metaphors and cultural references. We piloted these games through 12 community workshops across Maharashtra, Kerala and Delhi, and learned that: 1) community conversations were most productive when conducted in groups of 15-20; 2) the optimal duration for such simulation games was 15-20 minutes; and 3) communities found it easier and considerably more enjoyable to learn about the biology of HIV and the scientific implications of research through games and simulated experiences. The potential for innovative pedagogies and multidisciplinary co-creation with communities looks promising and can play an important role in strengthening dialog between researchers and communities, and catalyzing better informed and more equitable participation in HIV research.

Tajikistan is a country in Central Asia, which inherited the central planning governance model with little or nominal participation of people at the policy level. Voices of young people, especially girls, are particularly unheard in the agenda-setting. Yet adolescents and young people aged 10 to 25 comprise 40 % of the total population in Tajikistan and represent a huge force for development. 
To address this, UNICEF Tajikistan in collaboration and guidance from its headquarters initiated a process of developing and testing a model of children and young people participation in research. The research topic to test this model was around how young people's mental health was affected by the latest COVID-19 crisis. 
As a result, 100 young researchers were trained to conduct the research and advocate for a topic of concern through participation at the national-level meaning making workshop and sharing their self-produced digital story, which will be published through social media channels. 
For the first time in history of the country, young people were formally engaged in peer-to-peer research and their voices heard for programmatic change.

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito which continues to cause severe morbidity and mortality. As a priority country for the global Eliminate Yellow fever Epidemics (EYE), Nigeria has recorded repeated outbreaks since 2017. In 2021 alone, the country recorded 2,053 cases of yellow fever. Whereas, the estimated national immunization coverage for yellow fever as at 2020 was 54 percent, which is far below the 80 percent necessary to protect against outbreaks. More so, preventive measures being implemented seems to be ineffective against the outbreaks.
For a sustained response to these outbreaks, the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria project through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) reviewed previous risk communication interventions. The project then implemented a community theatre approach to directly orient affected communities in Bauchi state on appropriate yellow fever behaviors. 
The project conducted a series of 9 community theater performances in collaboration with a local drama group in six wards reaching 4,485. Following these dramas, random members of the audience were able to mention the signs and symptoms of yellow fever, what to do in case of a sudden onset of fever and where to go. 
Sustained behavior change at the individual and community levels have been shown to have more impact over a longer period when appealing to deep human emotions. Thus, putting communities at the center of risk communication and community engagement responses remains crucial to moving systems and people from response to prevention and preparedness.

Researched and co-designed with Hindi-speaking girls in India, the first game of the Game of Choice, Not Chance™ initiative provides opportunities for players to role play and learn, and offers a platform for accessing sexual reproductive health (SRH) resources. Go Nisha Go™ is designed to empower girls to make relatable choices that reflect trade offs and consequences of real-world conflicts in a virtual space, while connecting them with in-game direct-to-consumer tools and resources in support of their choices.  
Co-design approaches and formative research were used to not only develop the game, but at the same time, identify and broker partnerships with NGOs and private sector partners to connect access to products and services to position the game for scale up and sustainability. While the  game focuses on menstruation, fertility awareness, contraception, consent, prioritizing education/careers and delaying marriage, themes identified through co-design research with girls highlighted key behavioral insights and thematic areas. These are identity, ambition, safety, self-image, relationships, and technology access. Based on these insights/episode themes, the game has forged 18 partnerships with organizations to reach girls where they are and deliver products and services that they value.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emerging innovative audio technology called the Amplio Talking Book was used as an information hub that provided users with engaging, consistent, and accurate information about COVID-19. The study aim was to understand the most engaged and effective messaging formats for public health crisis communication using digital audio technology. The study evaluated Talking Book users engagements from 5th April 2020 to 2nd July 2020. Results indicated that endorsement messages from religious leaders, traditional authorities and district health directors of the eight districts were the most engaged messages by Talking Book users. Also, short messages arranging between one minute to five minutes were most engaged whiles messages from sixteen to twenty minutes were less engaged. Designing risk messages using creative formats such as endorsements by trusted authorities, expert interviews, and dramas at the beginning of health crisis may improve public awareness of the crisis, promote public engagement with risk messages, alleviate negative emotions, and promote preventive measures to curb the spread of the health crisis.

As SBC continues to incorporate Behavioural Insights (BI) into its toolbox there is a need for training in many forms, including capacity building that is online and globally accessible. UNICEF partnered with content experts and instructional designers to develop an online, asynchronous, self-paced course targeted at introducing BI. The training was designed to help learners: 1) describe BI as a tool for behavioural change, 2) describe the ways in which BI can contribute to a social and behavioural change program or intervention, 3) explain BI methodology, 4) recall practical examples of BI in low- and middle-income settings, and 5) identify when BI is an appropriate tool to leverage versus when it is not.
The project resulted in an online, open-access, three-module Behavioural Insights training. The approximately six-hour training combines video, interactive modules, and formative and summative assessments to provide an overview of BI. Using animated characters, it follows two hypothetical UNICEF colleagues through their journey of learning BI. The training emphasises that BI is just one approach to behaviour change, including how BI can be combined with other approaches such as human-centred design. 
The content development process focused on examples from LMIC countries, highlighting the need for more BI research globally. The feedback process generated discussion around how to balance the technical nature of BI with the practical needs of SBCC practitioners. The training will continue to develop as capacity grows and more BI evidence is generated. 

High mobile phone ownership in Pakistan offers a unique opportunity to connect populations that otherwise would not have access to one another. We propose an Interactive Voice Response Service (IVR) to connect gynecologists to expectant fathers, a subgroup that is often the primary decision-maker at home. We developed and piloted Super Abbu (Super Dad), an IVR that delivers maternal health information in Pakistan. Its main features are: 1) a question and answer section that connects users to gynecologists and 2) a story-sharing section that allows users to share experiences with peers. Content is moderated prior to becoming public and can be shared with friends, commented on, voted on, and given open-ended feedback on by users. Findings include: 1) targeted robocalls result in high uptake and audio banner ads on existing IVRs result in high engagement and retention; 2) there is demand for maternal health information by men; 3) there is high approval of a service that delivers culturally sensitive information on reproductive health; 4) content moderators require guidelines on what questions to make public to maintain cultural appropriateness of the service; 5) content moderators require guidelines to prevent the spread of misinformation while protecting users' right to free speech. Super Abbu demonstrates that IVRs can: 1) collect data on the informational needs of marginalized populations about culturally sensitive topics and 2) deliver personalized information to hard-to-reach populations with low education levels. Limitations include limited information on users and health impacts of the service.

Due to the rise in violent conflicts in Northern Nigeria, there has been a call for innovative initiatives to promote messages to counter narratives peddled by extremist groups. In achieving this, it became clear that the goal should not be to just end the conflicts but also build and sustain peaceful, tolerant and resilient societies where everyone irrespective of gender and status can thrive. 
Although women are often most affected by conflicts, peace processes in Nigeria have hitherto been largely dominated by men due to patriarchal cultural beliefs and gender inequalities. However, there is substantive evidence that indicates that women participation in peace processes are usually more successful as they are often focused on economic development and justice which are important elements for sustained peace.
To address the United Nations SDG goals (5 and 16) and women's involvement in CVE, our task as the communication partners of the USAID-funded Community Initiatives to Promote Peace project with Mercy Corps as lead partner and other local partners, was to adapt our radio programs during the peak of the  pandemic to address vaccine hesitancy and ensure women's participation in peace-Building. Using a combination of the Entertaining-Education (EE) format of Radio drama and the qualitative research method of Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Women listeners clubs were created in audience communities with the aim of bridging the gap between knowledge and action on countering violent conflicts in Northern Nigeria. Women's agency and their participation in peace-building efforts are amplified in project communities.

Delivering social and behavior change (SBC) content through a combination of traditional media and mobile platforms can increase the reach of messages among target audiences. Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria, a USAID-funded project, developed an integrated mass media campaign titled Albishirin Ku! (Glad Tidings! in Hausa) that uses radio and mobile channels. The campaign concept was developed to address 17 priority behaviors, including MNCH+N, FP and malaria, and social objectives, including gender. The radio program uses an innovative approach to storytelling. Monday through Friday, a new 5-minute segment is aired throughout the day. The story unfolds through a different lens: a dramatic cliffhanger, religious, family influencer, health provider, and a social perspective. The full 25-minute episode is aired over the weekends. These changing perspectives allow the radio program to tell an engaging story and appeal to diverse beneficiary populations and influencers while addressing the project's objectives.The Albishirin Ku! radio drama and spots was launched in August 2019 using a combination of traditional and mobile platforms. The radio program is available on a toll-free mobile platform that allows callers to listen. The project analyses the content callers' access, the time they spend listening, and demographic information provided by the callers. The analysis allows the program to understand callers' engagement and level of interest in the program. Since the launch of the Albishirin Ku! Radio drama on the mobile platform, it has received over 2,368,873 calls from 565,912 unique callers who have spent over 9,647,601 minutes of call time.

Game-based learning (GBL) is a well-researched and dynamic mechanism for instruction, characterized by elements of engagement, narratives, and personalized feedback that enhance learning. Studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of GBL for public health applications. This study was both a messaging treatment employing GBL through a simulation and a data collection tool. Results revealed that participants in the simulation and video treatment groups were significantly more likely to shift attitudes on One Health-related themes when compared to participants in the Booklet treatment (p<0.05). The designers and producers of this game drew reference from this simulation entitled: The Loop Trail Quest. In this low fidelity game, players are presented with competing choices and asked to make a decision, then indicate from a drop down list why they made that choice. The simulation then animates how their seemingly benign behavior puts in motion the triggers that cause zoonotic disease. The design of a choice-based simulation to understand decision-making and the findings of this study were the inspiration of the Game of Choice, Not Chance game for girls in India; a story-driven mobile game with direct links to reproductive health information. Similarly, in Go Nisha Go, the players make decisions and the story branches based on her decisions. Tools and features in the game guides players, providing them with insights and feedback about their in-game choices and actions, with the aim of increasing their decision-making capacity in real-life situations.

This project is a collaboration between BRAC, Peripheral Vision International (PVI), and Viamo; to adapt the Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents (ELA) program to a digital and remote learning model. The ELA program works with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), many of whom are out of school, to provide them with mentorship, skills, and training in areas such as financial literacy, savings, health, goal-setting and leadership. 


Material from the ELA curriculum has been selected to be adapted as interactive teaching content delivered in spoken English and local languages, available via basic mobile phones. The platform, initially delivered through a pilot phase, will be made available on Uganda's Airtel-Viamo 3-2-1 service which is free to dial, available in multiple languages, and accessible on any mobile phone across the country. The selected content includes educational games on health - puberty, menstruation, HIV - as well as finances, wellbeing, and the future. The content is brought to life through a series of fictional characters and interactive storylines that the caller can journey through, responding to scenarios and quizzes to complete the games. By scaling up the ELA program through this method, it will enable BRAC to increase its reach.

A team of researchers were investigating the impact of a Nigerian adaptation of Akili and Me when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Schools shut down, altering the study's quasi-experimental intervention design. Post-intervention and school reopening, researchers recontacted 363 children (mean age= 5.1yrs, SD= 1.1 yrs) who had provided data at baseline. The interruption allowed exploration of the research question "if and how did home-based exposure to Akili and Me affect educational outcomes among Nigerian children?" The post-intervention analyses revealed that during the school shutdown, children accessed Akili and Me through broadcast, radio, the Internet, and social media. Across viewing groups and including the control group, children became familiar with the program's characters. While the team observed no differences associated with the prior and different intervention groups, those children who could name more Akili and Me characters performed significantly better on the outcomes of literacy, numeracy, shape, socio-emotional development. This study offers promising evidence that when collaborating sectors (i.e., governments, media producers, educators, and researchers) come together during a time of urgency and promote the production, distribution, and utilization of educational media, young children can gain skills and knowledge even during a time of crises.

Despite the worldwide efforts to bring peace and justice to some countries using social, economic, and creative approaches, conflict continues to spread, affecting marginal communities. Using creative arts in peacebuilding could bring stable transformation to affected communities. Digital opportunities to bring affected partners into the space of creative arts to express their traumatic experiences could help to start the conversation on reconciliation. This project was a collaboration between the Malian Commission for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation (CVJR), students from the Malian University Institute for Technology (IUT), the Michigan State University Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH), and the program Scientific Animation Without Borders (SAWBO) at Purdue University. It explored the creation of animation on topics of peace that are recurrent in any conflict and translated into local languages to engage local communities into peacebuilding dialogues. We created the first animation based on a picture book with textiles fabric and traditional approaches to negotiation from Mali. The other animations, Forgiveness and Kidnapping, were created with the voice of students, teachers, local artists, and local community activists. With this creative approach to peace, we attempt to bring a transformative collaboration to accomplish shared objectives. We explained the process and outcomes of creating this educational peace approach. The project has been ongoing since 2019 and, since then, we have been participating in workshops via Zoom. Team leaders have tested the videos in towns and villages in Mali with the assistance of students from IUT.

Early childhood development (ECD) is a national priority in Rwanda. The country faces a stunting rate of 38 per cent among children under five, with 37 per cent of those aged 36-59 months developmentally off-track in literacy-numeracy, physical, social-emotional, and learning domains. UNICEF and partners designed and implemented a comprehensive programme around integrated ECD, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), to respond to this context. The programme aimed to increase effective and responsive care for young children by primary caregivers, extended family, and communities. The social and behaviour change (SBC) strategy leveraged platforms such as the Itetero radio and TV drama to broadcast relevant content and community platforms like monthly community work days with support from a trained cadre of community health volunteers. Partnerships were established with religious networks, including churches and mosques, as well as the tea growing sector. Theatre for Development, sermons in churches and mosques, and dialogues with caregivers and community influencers were also utilised to reach wider audience. A 7 per cent increase in access to ECD services was recorded in the second year of the intervention, from 13 per cent baseline to 20 per cent. A 13 per cent increase in the number of primary caregivers who promote early learning and 6 per cent increase in caregivers who believe physical punishment is necessary was realised. Buy-in from the highest level of government, as well as community influencers was key to tackling complex barriers related to integrated interventions.

The USAID-funded Game of Choice, Not Chance™ (GOC) initiative develops mobile games  supporting youth to become active decision-makers in their lives. The first game was designed with and for girls (15-19), in Bihar, Delhi and Rajasthan. The platform provides an entertaining private space for learning through interactive role-play and connects girls to information,  products, services, equipping them to confidently shape their futures. Building a complementary game for boys/young men will create collective action, allyship, and impact for adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH).
Through Boy Game Discovery Research, we gathered information and insights on boys' lives, relationships, aspirations, gaming behaviors, ASRH needs, and challenges. Primary objectives related to boys' self and social spheres: Self - understand game-relevant dimensions of boys' lives: phone use/engagement, media, game usage; aspirations, conflicts, gender ideologies; ASRH-related behaviors/perceptions. Social - explore semiotic/social/normative contexts of boys' understanding of ASRH, gender, and masculinity. 
Using multi-method research with boys (15-22), family members, and experts, we asked foundational questions: How does boys' social, spatial, and cultural environment shape gender ideologies, ASRH attitudes, outcomes? What motivations, aspirations, tensions exist for boys? How do boys engage with phones, media, content, and data? What are gaming behaviors, practices, and preferences?
Resulting insights informing game design/development: boys' aspirations, trusted channels for information, relationships with girls, peers, family. Scenario-based, projected representations were built on broad themes, ASRH experiences mapped, and case studies developed. Identifying relevant values/multiple traits enabled building individual personas that will become relatable characters in game design.

Numerous studies have shown that socioemotional and life skills are equally important as academic measures to learning and life outcomes. Significant efforts have been made on socioemotional learning, however, the majority of this work has been centred on Western concepts and formal delivery models. Over the past three years, a Pan-African edutainment organisation has been utilising a developmental science approach to incorporate life skills and socioemotional development into diverse learning content. The organisation then broadcasted the content to more than 16 million households across Africa. 
Studies show that the edutainment programme was successful in teaching 'Utu' - a character strength, or 'shared humanity' rooted in East African indigenous teachings. It also impacted children's practice of Utu. The edutainment programme motivated children towards social mobilisation in the form of 'Utu Clubs' after watching. Three different models were piloted - encouragement through live-action-videos, in-person outreach by staff and encouragement through digital channels. While the three models each had their own merits and challenges, a combined approach is most successful to enable kids to take learning offline and practise Utu. While participating in the clubs, children reported an increased sense of unity, cooperation and solidarity. Increased social responsibility was also reported, along with an increase in gender equity in the groups. Third-party researchers also discovered statistical significance in Utu's association with reduced stigma and greater resilience. The results of this project show the exciting potential of quality, localised edutainment to catalyse wide-spread character development, social mobilisation and socioemotional learning.

The More than Brides Alliance (MTBA) implemented a five-year project to end child marriages in rural communities in Pakistan. Pakistan is a context with high rates of child marriage: even among girls currently aged 20-24, 21% were married as a child (UNICEF, 2019). Child marriages are embedded in religion, culture and social norms. MTBA  has used mobile cinema to reach the heartland; small villages across conservative rural areas where child marriages are most prevalent. Cinema sessions- women/men only and mixed- were hosted by the community and  NGO's Bedari and Indus Resource Center. They focused on the costs of child marriage in terms of health of   married girls and future children,   quality of  marriage and low education levels. They demonstrated pathways to discuss delaying marriage and refusing spouses. Filmscripts were locally developed and based on qualitative research on beliefs and norms around child marriage. 6000 people were reached in two districts of Sindh and Punjab respectively. The impact of these interventions has been evaluated through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) by a research team from the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan, University of Oxford and VU University. Results show significant reductions in child marriage in participating households when men are treated, while there are no impacts on marriage in participating households when women are treated, or men and women are treated jointly. In these latter two interventions, however, there are significant changes in child marriages at village level, and that does not happen when men only are treated.