EXPERTS CALL FOR PERMANENT SBCC FRAMEWORK TO PROTECT NIGERIA’S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT GAINS

Nigeria has been urged to make Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) a permanent component of its national development system in order to preserve and expand the social gains achieved through various public health and development interventions.

The call is based on concerns that many SBCC programmes in the country remain fragmented and heavily dependent on donor funding, making their continuity vulnerable whenever external financing or individual projects come to an end. Advocates believe that integrating SBCC into government structures and development planning would provide a more sustainable approach to influencing positive social and behavioural outcomes.

SBCC is widely used to encourage individuals, families and communities to adopt behaviours that can improve health and overall wellbeing. It combines communication, community engagement and evidence-based approaches to address behaviours and social factors that affect issues such as healthcare utilisation, disease prevention, maternal and child health, sanitation and other development priorities.

Stakeholders argue that Nigeria has accumulated considerable experience through communication campaigns and community-based interventions, but the country risks losing some of these gains when successful programmes are treated as temporary projects rather than being incorporated into existing national and sub-national systems.

Institutionalising SBCC would involve creating stronger structures within government ministries, departments and agencies while ensuring that communication and behaviour-change components are considered from the beginning of policy formulation and programme implementation. Such an approach would allow SBCC strategies to become part of routine government activities instead of being introduced only when a specific donor-funded programme is being implemented.

The need for a stronger institutional framework is particularly important because behavioural change often requires sustained engagement. A single campaign may create awareness, but maintaining new behaviours usually requires continuous communication, community participation, monitoring and reinforcement.

Stakeholders also believe that stronger government ownership could help address the problem of duplication among development programmes. Different organisations sometimes implement communication interventions targeting similar communities or issues, with varying messages, strategies and timelines. A coordinated national framework could improve collaboration and ensure that available resources are directed towards clearly defined priorities.

Another expected benefit is the development of local expertise. By making SBCC an established component of public-sector planning, government institutions would have greater incentive to train and retain professionals with skills in communication, behavioural science, research, community mobilisation and programme evaluation.

This would also strengthen Nigeria’s ability to design interventions based on local realities. Rather than depending heavily on externally designed campaigns, institutions could develop communication strategies that reflect the cultural, social and economic conditions of different communities across the country.

The institutionalisation of SBCC could further improve the measurement of social development programmes. With clear structures and monitoring systems, government and partners would be better positioned to assess whether communication campaigns are actually changing attitudes and behaviours rather than measuring success only through the number of people reached.

Experts maintain that communication should therefore be treated as more than an information-distribution tool. Effective SBCC requires understanding why people behave in particular ways, identifying the barriers preventing positive change and working with communities to develop solutions that are realistic and sustainable.

For Nigeria, such an approach could strengthen interventions across several sectors, including health, education, nutrition, sanitation, gender-related issues and social protection. It could also help government communicate policies more effectively while building greater public understanding and participation.

Reducing dependence on external funding does not necessarily mean eliminating partnerships with international development organisations. Instead, stakeholders want donor-supported programmes to complement stronger domestic systems, with successful approaches transferred into government structures so that they can continue after individual projects or funding cycles end.

The call for institutionalisation therefore reflects a broader push for Nigeria to take greater ownership of its social development agenda. By establishing SBCC within national and state-level institutions, the country could preserve successful interventions, strengthen coordination and create a more consistent approach to achieving long-term behavioural and social change.

Ultimately, making SBCC part of Nigeria’s permanent development architecture could help ensure that the progress made through previous interventions is not lost. A sustained, coordinated and locally driven communication strategy would provide a stronger foundation for improving public behaviour and maintaining social gains over the long term.