Abuja: The Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) has urged Nigeria to localise Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) interventions. The centre called on the Federal Government to leverage existing evidence, community structures, and local expertise to address the country’s behavioural and development challenges.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Ms Babafunke Fagbemi, Executive Director of CCSI, made this appeal during a post-SBCC Summit engagement in Abuja. The engagement, organised by the Centre, followed the recently concluded 2026 International Social and Behaviour Change Communication Summit in Panama. It provided stakeholders an opportunity to reflect on key conversations from the summit, examine their relevance to Nigeria’s development landscape, and discuss how the media could amplify communication for driving positive change.
Fagbemi emphasized that Nigeria should not import solutions developed elsewhere without first understanding the local problems, available evidence, and structures that could support implementation. She highlighted that existing formal and informal institutions within communities could provide crucial platforms for addressing behavioural challenges and countering misinformation and disinformation.
She stated that identifying the institutions, structures, and actors that communities already interact with is essential to understand how they can contribute to social and behaviour change. ‘We do not have to reinvent the wheel. There are already existing structures that we can leverage, and they are there just waiting to be tapped,’ she said, noting that while some structures were already being used, others were either underutilised or not used appropriately.
Fagbemi stressed that effective SBCC interventions must be evidence-based and designed around the realities of the communities they seek to serve. She advocated for adapting global knowledge and approaches to Nigeria’s specific circumstances, asserting that stakeholders must first establish the actual problem, identify the evidence supporting the proposed intervention, and determine the appropriate messenger, message, and communication platform for the target audience.
She pointed out that this approach is particularly crucial in tackling misinformation and disinformation, which could undermine public health and other development interventions. Communities are more likely to respond to messages delivered through trusted structures and platforms that reflect their experiences.
Fagbemi said CCSI has been working to strengthen collaboration among SBCC practitioners by creating opportunities for stakeholders to share experiences, evidence, and networks. She highlighted that such collaboration is necessary to reduce fragmentation within the sector and ensure organisations can build on one another’s expertise rather than working in isolation.
She urged stakeholders to identify existing evidence supporting their interventions and the role each actor could play in achieving desired behavioural outcomes. SBCC should not be viewed merely as a technical platform but as an integral part of social development and everyday life.
Fagbemi also noted that CCSI’s role as co-chair of the 2026 International SBCC Summit in Panama provided an opportunity to showcase Nigeria’s expertise and strengthen the country’s visibility within the global SBCC community. She emphasized that the lessons from Panama would only be useful if translated into practical action in Nigeria.
She called on stakeholders to identify the most effective community structures, trusted messengers, and communication platforms for different interventions, rather than applying a uniform approach to all communities. Bringing practitioners together to share evidence and experience would help strengthen Nigeria’s SBCC ecosystem and support more coordinated responses to social and health challenges.
Fagbemi concluded by urging government, civil society organisations, media practitioners, development partners, and communities to work together to ensure that SBCC interventions are locally relevant, evidence-based, and capable of producing sustainable behavioural change.