Irrespective of whether your strategy aims to change behaviours through influencing policy makers, increasing the accessibility of services, providing people with the required skills, or changing social norms, it will always involve the use of communication messages and materials. The following guidance will help to ensure that your messages and materials are designed in the most effective way. Let us know if you think that an important resource is missing. 


How to Design Effective SBC Messages and Materials (webinar recording)

2020, GIZ, ANH
This webinar recording provides you with practical tips, guidance and plenty of great (but also bad) examples of how to design messages and materials that contribute to the desired change in people’s behaviours. 

How to Design SBCC Messages

HealthCOMpass
Step-by-step guidance on designing social and behaviour change communication messages with lots of links to other useful resources. 

How to Develop SBCC Creative Materials

HealthCOMpass
Step-by-step guidance on developing social and behaviour change communication materials with lots of links to other useful resources. 

How to Adapt SBCC Materials

HealthCOMpass
Step-by-step guidance on how to effectively adapt existing SBC communication materials with lots of links to other useful resources. 

Checklist for Reviewing the Quality of SBC Materials

2021, Schmied, P.
This practical checklist helps you review the quality of drafted or already existing social and behaviour change communication materials. 

Simply Put: A guide for creating easy-to-understand materials

2009, CDC
This guide gives project managers and SBC material developers a range of examples and practical tips on designing easy-to-understand communication materials. It helps with making your messages clear, ensuring optimal text appearance and layout, avoiding mistakes in translations, testing for readability and other essentials for effective communication.

Creating Effective Communications

2017, People in Need (PIN)
This short guidance is a part of PIN's Behaviour Change Toolkit. It explains how to design and pre-test your communication messages and materials.

Facts for Life

UNICEF, et. al
This website provides vital messages and information for mothers, fathers, other family members and caregivers and communities to use in changing behaviours and practices that can save and protect the children's lives. It is based on the scientific findings by medical and child development experts around the world, and presented in simple language that can be understood and acted...

IEC Material Production Guidelines

This brief paper offers a set of fundamental guidelines for the planning, design (or adaptation) and production of information, education, and communication (IEC) materials. It suggests a six–step approach, with each step supporting the next, which IEC material design teams should endevor to follow.

Tips for Producing Print, Video, and Radio Materials

Johns Hopkins University
These tip sheets offer basic information about creating print, video, and radio materials.  Included are tips about readability, images, content, and care of equipment.

Evaluation of IEC Materials

Pathfinder International
This very practical checklist helps you to assess the quality of IEC materials, identify their main strengths and weaknesses, and propose options for their improvement. 

How to Conduct Effective Pretests

FHI
This handbook is intended to help practitioners conduct simple, effective pretests of BCC materials. Its main focus is on materials related to HIV/AIDS prevention, however, the gudiance is very useful for materials covering other topics. This handbook will help you to 1) understand what pretesting is and why it is important; 2) learn different methods of pretesting; 3) determine whether...