Comments on SBCC Summit 2016 CommTalk: Planning and Budgeting for SBCC Programming

Comments on SBCC Summit 2016 CommTalk: Planning and Budgeting for SBCC Programming: Deo Wanansabi  seems to argue that if P process is followed, demand can be increased for public health services, thereby saving costs by economy of scale. Obviously he has developed tools to develop plans and budget the process. This seems to be a wise approach for convincing the decision makers in simple terms. Personally I feel the P- process, introduced by the Johns Hopkins Communication Program a long time ago, was a communication strategy planning tool family planning programs that could be used for other public health programs too. However, P-Process introduced initially was not developed keeping in mins SBCC, unless the latest version has evolved to accommodate SBCC approach.

Practically the planning process begins where project ends. In other words, it starts from the evaluation findings of the previous project. In any case the idea is to develop a strategy using the steps in the P-process. Once a strategy is developed it will outline detailed activities that become the basis of budgeting. Is this what Wanansabi is proposing?

To convince the decision makers of the utility of the proposal, nothing less than a A, B, C experiment research model will meet the bill. In such an experiment, as a minimum, three nearly identical areas or communities will be identified. In A, no SBCC activity will be performed, say for three months. In B area, regular promotional or IEC activities may be conducted and in area C, properly planned SBCC program is implemented. In all situation outcome indicators will be same, and their measurement process be also same. I need not dwell on it as local experts know these processes. A thorough evaluation of the project can provide reasonable evidence if and why change occurred, if any.

I realize even if expertise is available to conduct quasi-experiment, funds may be difficult to find. In such a case simply clinic records can be obtained and analyzed.

I have made many assumptions in my argument. If these were wrong, please discard my comments.