Reframing preventive health communication: from individual compliance to collective action

Behaviour change in public health is a complex process that requires a comprehensive, contextually grounded social and behaviour change (SBC) approach, supported by effective health promotion platforms that move beyond individual-centric models towards collective social action. This paper presents learnings from the large-scale JEEViKA Technical Support Programme implemented in Bihar, which leverages women's collectives as a health promotion platform and delivers context-specific messages based on an in-depth understanding of community barriers. The study adopts the case study method and reviews programme documents, research papers, monitoring and evaluation data and observational and experiential learnings, to analyse and document the learnings. Findings indicate that a Socio-Ecological Model-based SBC strategy implemented through women's collectives significantly improved health and nutrition outcomes. Three key insights emerge: first, contextually grounded messages aligned with community practices are more readily adopted, whereas linear, didactic IEC approaches often remain limited to awareness generation; second, women's collectives function as powerful platforms for social transformation; and third, linking communities with entitlements reinforces behaviour change. The study concludes that this integrated, multi-touchpoint approach offers a scalable model for addressing broader public health challenges, particularly non-communicable diseases.