Elena 0:00
We have selected two last questions which are very interesting. And we want to push them forward. So we have 10 minutes left, a little bit less than two minutes left. So Sybil and Sanjay, I know you are to the point but we don’t want to miss these very two important points. And the first one is about behavior change communication. And it could that couldn’t be a more timely question. In you know, in a world where we are told every single day what to do, what not to do, and things are changing and we are constantly in evolving environments. So the question is how closely the system changes linked to behavior change communication, where’s the connection? Where do they intersect? Would you like to say a few words Sanjay, in this COVID era?
Sanjay 0:52
Simply put, systems are a collection of behaviors and behaviors are outcomes that have many elements of the system. So they’re very, very closely linked, closely related. And in the end to affect systems change, I look at behavior from three lenses. One is how do you change the behavior of individuals? For example, in the societal platform, work, the platform thinking that we do to focus on, how do you change access, acceptance and affordance for individuals so that their behavior changes with respect to what they’re trying to do. Second is how do you change behavior of organizations because they are also entities. They could be functions of the government, there could be certain social entrepreneurs, they could be civil society organizations, they could be community structures. Because the behavior is not only individual behavior, sometimes it’s the behavior of that small collective that has its own behavior. And then the behavior of the ecosystem at large. Behavior has multiple connotations. Whereas of course, we look at behavior as an individual’s behavior. But I think there are many layers and collections of people which have their own behaviors. Because in the area of networks and network thinking, the behavior of the network is a collection of many kinds of interactions, interaction between entities, interaction between individuals, interactions between networks, because there’s sub networks in that sense. So anything that is working on systems change has to fundamentally, ultimately come down to individual behavior, organizational behavior, and the ecosystem.
Elena 2:48
Thank you, Sanjay, for being so to the point. Sybil any remarks on that? Otherwise, we will move to the last question.
Sybil 2:57
Only to say that, I think that behavior changes communications, this echoes what Sanjay says, I think is an integral part of driving, the critical components that we all we both listed out earlier and some of the critical components that you probably are imagining in your head. In order for convergence to happen, there needs to be a behavior change amongst the various actors in actually coming together, as Sanjay said, to co-create, there needs to be appetite and opportunity for really understanding the system and understanding the change that is envisioned. I think behavior change is an integral part of any critical component for systems change. And it’s a multitude of actors that need to be taken on whatever behavior change that’s necessary. And of course, more concretely for social norm shifts. To actually happen in a sustainable, sustainable manner, behavior change has to happen. So I think behavior changes – it’s this cross cutting aspect.