Walk this way: The behaviour change journey

It may have sounded easy enough when Aerosmith told everyone to “walk this way” in their 1986 song but behaviour change involves a lot more than just issuing an order. It’s a journey that starts with shifts in knowledge, then attitude, and ultimately changes in behaviour. Cambodian counter-trafficking practitioners came together to discuss behaviour change in Phnom Penh at a workshop facilitated by IOM X as part of the development of a national BCC strategy for trafficking prevention.

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) is coming up more and more in the counter-trafficking sector but there can still be confusion about what it means. It’s an approach under the bigger concept of Communication for Development (C4D), which is all about working with communities to understand their knowledge, attitudes and practices (or behaviour) to help them develop messages and tools to improve their own lives. BCC is specifically focused on individual behaviour change.
 

 
IOM X has developed a C4D Strategic Planning Tool to help people design activities or campaigns using a C4D/BCC approach. It helps you and your stakeholders think about:

– Who your target audiences are

– The knowledge, attitudes and practices (behaviour) of your target audiences

– The desired behaviour change

– The barriers and positive factors that hinder or help make that behaviour change possible

– The sources of information that your  target audiences trust

– The  action message that can promote the desired behaviour change
 

 
This workshop in Phnom Penh was all about familiarizing the participants with the IOM X C4D Strategic Planning Tool so that they can go on to facilitate its use with other groups as part of a national consultation process. Applying g a C4D/BCC approach across different trafficking trends will help create shared priority behaviour change messages and indicators of success that will strengthen human trafficking prevention work in Cambodia.
 

 
Interested in learning more about the IOM X C4D Strategic Planning Tool? You can!