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World Vision at the International SBCC Summit 2026

Health
Start Date
06/22/2026
End Date
06/26/2026
Location
Panama City, Panama
SBCC Summit 2026

World Vision is a proud participant at the 4th International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit, the world’s premier gathering of SBC professionals advancing the science and practice of communication for social change.

The 2026 SBCC Summit brings together practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and advocates from around the world under the theme “The Power of Connection: Reimagining Knowledge, Action and Equity in a Changing SBCC Landscape.” This theme invites participants to critically examine the power structures and relationships that shape people’s ability to change, while prioritizing the voices and leadership of those most directly affected. Through four sub-themes — Connection and Relationships; Knowledge and Evidence; Action and Impact; and Inclusion and Equity — the Summit will emphasize critical reflection on past practices and collaborative pathways for sustainable and inclusive change.

World Vision brings more than 25 years of experience delivering SBC programming in local communities in nearly 100 countries. World Vision’s SBC approach is grounded in five key domains — agency, community, society, structures, and systems — using a multi-theory, evidence-based approach to facilitate shifts in beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, social norms, policy, and the environment. Proven models include Channels of Hope for faith leader engagement, Timed and Targeted Counseling for the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, Nurturing Care Groups for peer-to-peer behavior change, and Citizen Voice and Action for social accountability — all of which have demonstrated measurable impact across health, nutrition, and WASH outcomes. World Vision is committed to strengthening localization and local partner capacity, ensuring that communities lead their own development and that solutions are sustainable long after programs end. The SBCC Summit offers a vital platform for World Vision to share evidence from the field, learn from fellow practitioners, and advance the collective vision of equitable, inclusive, and people-centered social and behavior change.

 

Sessions and presentations

From insight to action: Co-creating community-led SBC immunization solutions for zero-dose communities in Cameroon (Part of the panel: “From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Innovation in Immunization Communication”)

🗓️ Date: June 22, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 3:45–5:00 p.m. | 📍 Venue: Istmo 1 | 🎤 Speaker: Joel Mercado (World Vision U.S.)

In Cameroon’s most zero-dose-affected district, World Vision piloted an innovative SBC program that moved from behavioral insight to measurable impact using a fully co-created, community-led approach. Guided by the WHO Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) framework and AI-supported sentiment analysis, caregivers in Nkolndongo District co-designed a tailored behavior change strategy to improve childhood immunization uptake. Interventions were delivered through Parent Champions — trusted community members trained using adapted Make Me a Change Agent materials — who conducted household visits and public dialogues using locally produced SBC videos featuring real caregivers and community leaders. The pilot engaged 20 Parent Champions, reached more than 2,000 households, and within three weeks, 728 previously zero-dose children were vaccinated, with 92.5% of referred families completing immunizations. This presentation shares lessons on localizing content, shifting community norms, and centering caregivers as change agents — offering a scalable model for SBC programming in equity-critical settings.

Learn more: 

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SBC Connect: Charting the future of social and behavior change through collective voice and action (Side event hosted by the CORE Group)

🗓️ Date: June 23, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 7:15–9:15 a.m. | 📍 Venue: TBD | 🎤 Speakers: Lisa Hilmi, CORE Group; Joel Mercado, World Vision (Co-Chair, CORE Group SBC Technical Working Group); Barbara Muffoletto, Impact Global Health Alliance (Co-Chair, CORE Group SBC Technical Working Group); and other SBC experts

At a time when the SBC field faces unprecedented disruption — from funding shortfalls to identity fragmentation — this interactive town hall convenes practitioners, researchers, and organizational leaders to confront the field’s most pressing challenges and co-create a path forward. Grounded in findings from two global listening sessions and a practitioner survey conducted by the CORE Group SBC Technical Working Group, the session presents five evidence-based themes that define this moment for SBC: the existential reckoning with funding loss; the identity paradox of a field that struggles to name itself; the imperative to expand beyond household-level health; the accountability deficit in evidence and measurement; and the need to rebuild a fragmented organizational ecosystem.

Following a brief presentation of findings, a diverse panel of regional voices from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and multilateral agencies will respond to the data and share field-level perspectives. Participants will then move into facilitated small-group ideation sessions to prioritize actions, identify collaboration opportunities, and contribute to two landmark products: the SBC Futures Framing Paper and the SBC Essentials Playbook. This session is designed for SBC practitioners, program designers, researchers, and organizational leaders seeking to move from diagnosis to collective action.

 

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Testing a “crash course on parenting” for rural women to change minimum dietary diversity in East Lombok, Indonesia (Part of the panel: “Play, Practice and Participation: How Interactive Approaches Are Driving Change”)

🗓️ Date: June 23, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 11:15–11:27 a.m. | 📍 Venue: Pacifico 3 | 🎤 Speaker: Esther Indriani (World Vision International)

Between October 2024 and August 2025, World Vision and Wahana Visi Indonesia piloted a SBC program in six villages of East Lombok District, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia — an area with high stunting prevalence (37.6% in 2022), poverty, and child marriage. Baseline findings showed that 72.6% of children ages 6 months and older met Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD), but only 20% avoided ultra-processed foods. Most caregivers (88.6%) expressed interest in learning about child feeding and care, preferring hands-on methods such as cooking demonstrations (82.2%). Photovoice research reinforced these insights, revealing that rural mothers desired engaging, playful approaches to learning.

Based on these findings, a three-session parenting crash course was designed for caregivers of children under five, emphasizing direct demonstration and interactive games. Parenting classes are typically limited to urban, higher-income families, making this rural pilot particularly innovative. A total of 722 caregivers participated, with 522 completing pre- and post-tests.

The crash course used cooking demonstrations, blind food testing, stimulation activities, and games. Results showed significant knowledge gains across all caregiver groups, with improvements in MDD in three of four groups. Beliefs shifted toward greater family support for child feeding, and attitudes on feeding difficulty improved, though results varied by site and age group.

This pilot highlights the promise of community-based parenting programs in rural areas. Scaling up will require refining content, addressing operational challenges, and integrating peer support to sustain learning and participation.

Learn more: 

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Parent Champions and peer power: Reclaiming caregiver voice in immunization communication in Cameroon (Part of the panel: “Immunization Equity: Trust, Inclusion & Community Voice”)

🗓️ Date: June 25, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | 📍 Venue: Caribe 6 | 🎤 Speaker: Joel Mercado (World Vision U.S.)

In Cameroon’s most zero-dose-affected district, caregivers reclaimed the power to shape how immunization is discussed, understood, and delivered. This presentation showcases a peer-led SBC model built on locally produced storytelling, dialogue-based outreach, and targeted behavior change techniques. Seven short videos were co-created with local caregivers, each addressing a key behavioral barrier — from mistrust in health services to family pressure and misinformation. Twenty Parent Champions, trained through an adapted Make Me a Change Agent manual, were equipped with tablets preloaded with all videos and used open-ended conversations to identify caregivers’ specific barriers before screening the most relevant video in real time, ensuring content relevance and emotional resonance. This peer-led model resulted in 728 children vaccinated and a 92.5% referral completion rate within three weeks, with caregivers reporting increased trust, motivation, and self-efficacy. The session demonstrates how a behaviorally grounded, community-delivered video strategy shifted not just vaccine behavior but who holds power, voice, and trust in immunization communication — offering a scalable model for SBC in equity-priority settings.

Learn more: 

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From evidence to action: Formative research insights shaping Zambia’s introduction, uptake, and adherence of multiple micronutrient supplementation among pregnant women (Part of the panel: “Strengthening Maternal and Child Nutrition — What’s Working?”)

🗓️ Date: June 25, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 3:15–4:00 p.m. | 📍 Venue: Caribe 2 | 🎤 Speaker: Joel Mercado (World Vision U.S.)

Zambia continues to face high rates of maternal anemia, low birthweight, and poor birth outcomes despite long-standing iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation. With evidence demonstrating the superiority of UNIMAPP Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) over IFA, the Ministry of Health is piloting MMS integration into antenatal care. To guide this transition, formative research was conducted jointly by the Ministry of Health through the Tropical Diseases Research Centre, World Vision Zambia, World Vision U.S., and Vitamin Angels. Cross-sectional, mixed-methods findings revealed strong motivation among women to attend antenatal care, but cultural norms delaying pregnancy disclosure, gendered decision-making, and distance to facilities hindered timely and consistent practice. Health system barriers included counseling gaps, frequent IFA stock-outs, and limited SBCC materials. Critically, adherence was driven more by interpersonal trust and respectful provider interactions than by technical information alone. Community-Based Volunteers and Safe Motherhood Action Groups emerged as trusted messengers. The research highlights the importance of elevating community knowledge and lived experience as evidence — ensuring Zambia’s MMS rollout is positioned as a trusted, community-owned program.

Learn more:

Resources:

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🔍 Featured workshop

Seeing change, speaking truth: Using Photovoice to elevate community voices in SBC

🗓️ Date: June 26, 2026 | ⏰ Time: 11:15 a.m.–1:15 p.m. | 📍 Venue: Caribe 5 | 🎤 Speakers: Esther Indriani (World Vision International), Joel Mercado (World Vision U.S.)

This hands-on, skills-building workshop introduces participants to Photovoice, a participatory methodology that equips community members to document their realities through photography, analyze their images, and use them as tools for dialogue and advocacy. Rooted in equity and inclusion, Photovoice shifts power by giving marginalized groups the authority to decide which stories are told and how. Participants will engage in a guided exercise using the SHOWeD framework (What do you See? What is really Happening? How does this relate to Our lives? Why does this problem or strength exist? What can we Do?), practice collaborative theme sorting, and experience a mini-simulation of a Photovoice output such as an exhibition or group dialogue. Ideal for practitioners designing equity-focused SBC interventions in low-literacy or marginalized contexts and those seeking participatory methods to strengthen program design, community mobilization, and advocacy.

Learn more: 

 

Speakers and contributors

Joel MercadoJoel Mercado, MPH – Senior Technical Advisor, Social and Behavior Change, World Vision U.S.

Joel has more than 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian work, with significant contributions to the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of SBC programming across health, nutrition, WASH, and food security in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He holds an MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and specializes in behavioral science-informed solutions to complex community health challenges. Joel began his career in La Paz, Bolivia, later provided technical support for Latin America operations and long-term work in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, before expanding his expertise globally.

 

Esther Indriani

Esther Indriani, MPH – Senior Technical Advisor, Health and Nutrition, World Vision International

Esther has more than 26 years of experience in non-governmental organization work. She has led pilot testing of parenting interventions, health and nutrition evaluations, design workshops, and more than 50 trainings across Asia and Africa. She developed an online course on Growth Monitoring and Promotion, attended by more than 300 participants from 36 countries. She holds an MPH with honors from Maastricht University, a postgraduate degree with distinction in Food and Nutrition Security from Wageningen University, and is pursuing a PhD in Health and Sustainable Development at Mahidol University. Since 2017, she has served as a visiting lecturer in the MPH program at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore.

 

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