SBC Is About the Process, Not the Product

A colleague messaged me recently asking if I had any good SBC materials on household food expenditure, joint decision-making, and dietary diversity.

I told her, “You’re going to hate my answer.”

There was a pause.

Then she wrote back, “There’s nothing good?”

I said, “To make an SBC material good, you have to design it for your audience.”

She “groaned.” And honestly, I get it.

When a government counterpart or donor wants to see “what SBC looks like,” it’s natural to reach for something tangible — a flipchart, a counseling card, a video. Something polished that worked somewhere. The instinct makes sense. You want to inspire confidence, to show what success looks like, and to avoid reinventing the wheel. Development work moves fast, and we all want to get to the “doing” part.

But here’s the problem: SBC isn’t about the product. It’s about the process that created it.

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Why copying “good” materials rarely works

When you take a great SBC product out of its original context and drop it somewhere new, you’re keeping the form but losing the logic. The material might look professional, the messages might sound persuasive — but unless it’s built on the same behavioral realities, it’s just decoration.

Take the topic of joint household decision-making.

It sounds straightforward enough, right? But that one “behavior” could be driven by completely different issues in different settings:

• Maybe husbands control spending because income is unpredictable, and budgeting feels pointless.

• Maybe it’s about social status — a man feels less respected if he consults his wife.

• Maybe a mother-in-law dominates household choices, and the husband fears losing influence.

• Maybe alcohol use eats up income and sparks conflict.

• Maybe couples do make decisions together — just not the way outsiders recognize.

Each of those situations calls for a completely different intervention. If you import someone else’s materials, you’re also importing their diagnosis of the problem — which might not be yours.

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What makes something “good SBC” in the first place

A good SBC product isn’t defined by its layout, its artwork, or how neatly it aligns with a donor’s template. It’s “good” because it came from a process that asked the right questions:

• What’s really keeping people from doing this behavior?

• What motivates them when they do change?

• How do social norms, emotions, and practical realities shape their choices?

• What message, delivered by whom, through what channel, would actually resonate?

  
  

That process — formative research, audience segmentation, message testing, iteration — is what makes an SBC intervention effective. The product is just the evidence of that process, not a shortcut to it.

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Use examples wisely

By all means, show examples. They’re helpful for inspiration and advocacy — especially when partners aren’t yet convinced that SBC works. But don’t present them as plug-and-play solutions. Instead, deconstruct them with your team or counterparts:

• What behavior was the program actually trying to change?

• What insight about the audience did it uncover?

• How did the communication or activity address that insight?

• Would those same dynamics exist here?

That kind of conversation builds understanding and ownership — and keeps you focused on designing for your problem, not someone else’s.

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The bottom line

SBC isn’t about collecting pretty posters or clever slogans. It’s about understanding people — their context, their barriers, their motivations — and then designing something that fits them. Borrow ideas, yes. Learn from others, absolutely. But resist the temptation to skip the hard part.

Because in the end, the power of SBC doesn’t come from the material you print.

It comes from the process you follow.