The 2026 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit opened Monday to a full room, global voices already in motion and momentum building from the outset.
Participants from around the world gathered to reflect, reconnect and rethink how communication drives social change in an increasingly complex global landscape.
The opening ceremony concluded with a vibrant performance by the National Folkloric Dance Company of Panama, welcoming participants to the host country through music, dance and cultural tradition.
A Summit Grounded in Connection
Hundreds of practitioners, researchers, policymakers and community leaders gathered Monday in Panama to open the Summit with a strong focus on connection in a rapidly shifting global landscape.
“Connection is at the heart of social and behavior change. It is also at the heart of this Summit,” said Summit Co-Chair Debora Freitas López, executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.
Summit Co-Chair Babafunke Fagbemi, executive director of the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), emphasized that relationships and context are essential to meaningful change.
“Real and lasting change depends on something deeper: relationships, trust, context, and our ability to understand and respond to people’s lived realities,” she said.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Dean Keshia Pollack Porter underscored the urgency of trust in public health communication.
“Information alone does not change lives,” she said. “Trust, relationships and human connections do.”
Government representatives from Panama reinforced that message, framing communication as a tool for equity, inclusion and social transformation.
From the Opening Plenary: Local, Ancestral and Cultural Approaches to SBCC
The opening plenary shifted the focus from institutional messaging to lived experience, challenging participants to rethink communication itself—not as a one-way tool, but as a cultural and political process shaped by power, identity and place.
Moderator Lorenzo Vargas Mantilla opened the discussion by calling for a move beyond traditional top-down approaches and toward a more grounded understanding of communication as something embedded in social realities.
The discussion then moved into Indigenous experience and community-led storytelling.
Emberá leader Omayra Casamá emphasized the role of history and collective memory in shaping identity and continuity, describing memory as something that actively informs how communities understand the present and what they carry forward.
From the Ecuadorian Amazon, Yutsu Maiche, a Shuar communicator, filmmaker and musician, described communication as self-representation rooted in territorial autonomy. He highlighted how Indigenous communities are building their own systems of storytelling through film, training and collective production, strengthening control over their narratives.
From Colombia’s Montes de María region, Soraya Bayuelo Castellar reflected on decades of conflict and the long work of reclaiming narrative power in communities often defined by violence and stigma. She emphasized memory as a form of resistance and a way of ensuring communities are understood through their own histories rather than external labels or statistics.
Adebayo Fayoyin, chair of the African Society for Social and Behavior Change, reinforced the broader thread of the discussion, emphasizing that communication cannot be understood outside of context. He pointed to the importance of place, culture and lived realities in shaping how communication is designed, interpreted and practiced.
Across perspectives, a shared message emerged: communication is not simply a tool for change—it is shaped by those who live its realities. Those closest to experience are not only part of the story; they are the ones who define it.
Voices from the Summit
For Wame Jallow, Executive Director of Shuga Global, the Summit is about connection in a time of constraint.
“I’m here to learn and listen to how we’re all navigating bold pivots and challenges—and to inspire innovation,” she said.
She also pointed to a defining tension in the field today.
“In a time of dwindling funding, ecosystem building and partnership building is so important.”
Day One Insights
Throughout the day, participants surfaced several recurring themes:
Listen first, build trust always. Real behavior change starts with communities feeling heard, not talked at.
Design for real people, not assumptions. The strongest solutions emerge from lived experience.
Disruption is an invitation. This moment presents an opportunity to build differently, led by those closest to the problem.
