On 8th June, Tomoko Fukuda, BCC Specialist, JOICFP, gave a presentation at a Brown Bag Lunch to UNFPA headquarters in New York on JOICFP's development of media communication tools for innovative behavior change communication (BCC).

Fukuda introduced JOICFP's expertise in BCC, stressing that it has experience in over 25 countries in encouraging behavior change at the individual level, while supporting the development of an enabling environment for change. Furthermore, JOICFP has expertise in ICT that has been applied to the development of effective media communication tools, as well as information and knowledge sharing. JOICFP's method of digitizing and then 'assetizing' information through DigiPlan is a cutting-edge way of addressing the needs of media storage and communication.

The knowledge and information gathered from this has led to a database of over 6 terabytes.

Fukuda (right) explains JOICFP's expertise in BCC

Giving the example of the picture drama The Endless Goodbye, which is being used in Africa to fight HIV/AIDS, Fukuda stressed that for change to occur, more than correct information is required; messages must contain an emotional component in order to make a difference to the target group. She explained how communities were involved in the strategy and development of the drama, giving a sense of ownership, and that it was based on a real story, thereby having a lot of relevance to target audiences.

While it is difficult to quantify the effectiveness of specific BCC interventions, she gave anecdotal evidence that VCT had increased and that there was less stigma attached to PLWHA in areas where the drama was being delivered.

Scenes from The Endless Goodbye;
a simple tool with powerful results

Fukuda also gave an example of a television drama developed in Myanmar to promote safe motherhood and male involvement. Twin Angels shows how two twin sisters have very different outcomes based on the health choices made by themselves, their partners, family and community. The development and production of the television drama also resulted in technical capacity building of the Ministry of Health, Central Health Education Bureau, by JOICFP .

Utilizing the DigiPlan approach, a picture drama has also been developed based on the same story as used for the TV show for use by volunteers at the community level, an example of a multi-solution strategy.

Members of UNFPA from the Africa Division, Technical Support Division, and IERD came to the Brown Bag Lunch. They commented that JOICFP's approach at the community level was very valuable as it recognized uptake of services was critical, rather than just provision of services.