Seven SWEDD+ countries met in N’Djamena to co-create harmonized SBCC indicators, strengthen digital M&E tools and move from tracking activities to measuring real changes in attitudes, behaviors and social norms.

A five-day regional workshop held in N’Djamena, Chad, brought together seven SWEDD+ countries to strengthen the way Social and Behaviour Change Communication is measured across the region.

The workshop gathered more than 30 monitoring and evaluation specialists, communication officers and technical partners from UNFPA, the World Bank and the West African Health Organisation. Its objective was clear: to help countries move beyond counting communication activities and toward measuring real social transformation in communities.

Across SWEDD+ countries, SBCC campaigns are central to addressing child marriage, keeping girls in school, expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services, promoting gender equality and mobilizing communities around women’s and girls’ empowerment. However, measuring whether these campaigns are actually shifting attitudes, behaviours and social norms has remained a major challenge.

The workshop helped close this gap by supporting countries to co-create six harmonized SBCC indicators that focus not only on outputs, but also on changes in attitudes, behaviours and community-level norms. 

From counting to measuring change

A pre-workshop survey laid bare the scale of the challenge: most countries are still primarily tracking outputs: the number of sensitization sessions conducted, the number of radio spots aired, rather than measuring whether attitudes and behaviours actually shift. The gap between activity monitoring and impact assessment can undermine the project’s ability to demonstrate results to donors, governments, and communities.

The workshop structured this transition around a three-stage paradigm shift: from counting (How many sessions?) to measuring (Did knowledge change?) to trajectory analysis (Are norms shifting over time?). Participants worked through each stage using concrete methodologies — Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) surveys, Most Significant Change stories, LQAS sampling, and their practical application to real SWEDD+ scenarios.

“We must imperatively move from a logic centred on activity monitoring to a logic centred on documenting transformation.” - Saleh Bourma Ali, Chad’s Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance in charge of the Economy and International Cooperation, during the opening ceremony.

A major achievement of the workshop was the stronger connection established between M&E and communication teams. Participants worked together on practical approaches such as Knowledge, Attitude and Practices surveys, Most Significant Change stories, LQAS sampling and digital data collection tools.

“Behind every statistic lies a real life, a family, a community whose trajectory we have a collective responsibility to transform. This workshop gives us the measurement tools to ensure that our interventions reach those who need them most — and that no one is left behind.” - Ms. Yewande Odia, UNFPA Resident Representative in Chad

Communities and leaders at the centre

The workshop also confirmed the importance of community leadership in shifting harmful social norms. According to the pre-workshop survey, 100% of respondents identified religious leaders as among the most influential actors in driving social change, while child marriage was identified by 75% of participants as a key barrier to girls’ school retention.

“Through practical exercises, we were able to simulate concretely how we are going to implement these approaches. This workshop truly strengthened our capacities and allowed us to exchange experiences on monitoring and evaluation tools," said Amina Compaoré, Communication Officer, SWEDD+ Burkina Faso

Digital innovation for real-time monitoring

Digital innovation was also a key focus of the workshop. Participants explored the use of KoboToolbox for mobile data collection and PowerBI for interactive dashboards, with the aim of reducing reporting delays and supporting more timely, evidence-based decision-making. The digitalization module was the highest-rated component of the workshop, reflecting the strong demand for modern, practical and harmonized M&E tools.

“This workshop is fundamental for us because it will allow us to better understand data, see the impact it has had on target populations, and understand how our work can be improved," said Mariam Tandina, Communication Officer, SWEDD+ Mali

By the end of the workshop, countries committed to integrating the six co-created SBCC indicators into the broader regional Results Framework by the end of 2026, operationalizing harmonized digital dashboards and conducting a first round of Data Quality Assessment to establish a baseline for data quality.

“For the first time, M&E and Communication specialists have sat together and co-created harmonized instruments to measure social transformation — not just campaign outputs. I call on all delegations to operationalize these results immediately upon return to their countries. The tools are ready; now it is our collective responsibility to put them to work.” - Mr. Youssouf Awaré Neissa, National Coordinator, PMU Chad / SWEDD+

From shared measurement to actionable evidence

The N’Djamena workshop marks an important milestone for SWEDD+. For the first time, participating countries now share a common language, common tools and common indicators to measure social transformation.

“This workshop allowed us to work together with all countries to see how to measure change concretely, produce reliable information, and provide decision-makers with evidence in the best possible way”, said Atim Mahamat Saleh, M&E Specialist, Chad SWEDD+.

As countries move into implementation, the focus will be on turning these tools into actionable evidence — evidence that can help improve programmes, guide decision-makers and accelerate results for girls, women, families and communities.

“Co-creating indicators in a workshop is the beginning, not the end. The real test comes when these tools are deployed in the field, when data flows into national dashboards, and when decision-makers use that evidence to adjust programmes in real time. That is the transformation we committed to in N’Djaména, and that is what we will be held accountable for," said Moussa Bagayoko, Programme Specialist M&E, UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office

“Women’s empowerment and capturing the demographic dividend are achievable goals — provided that the right tools, methods, and systems are in place to measure what is being done, learn from what works, and correct what does not yet produce the expected results. This workshop is precisely serving that ambition.”

— Mr. Farouk Mollah Banna, World Bank Resident Representative in Chad