Big news for fans of the International Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit: Organizers today announced that the next SBCC Summit will be held at the Panama Convention Center in Panama City from March 23-27, 2026.
“After successful events in Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Morocco, we thought it was essential to convene the SBCC community in the Latin America and Caribbean Region – a region with a rich history of SBCC programs and a growing cadre of young professionals,” Debora B. Freitas López and Babafunke Fagbemi said in making the announcement. “Panama City is welcoming us with open arms and is committed to ensuring maximum participation from attendees from around the world.”
Freitas López, the executive director of the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP), and Fagbemi, executive director of the Nigeria-based Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), are the co-chairs of the 2026 Summit’s organizing secretariat.
The planning is already in full swing, with CCP and CCSI working alongside a half-dozen other secretariat members, a 30-member International Steering Committee and countless volunteers from across the health and development worlds.
An updated version of the Summit website is now available, and anyone interested in more information on what will be the 4th Summit can sign up here to join the mailing list for the latest updates, including information about abstracts, registration and logistics.
In 2022, 1,800 researchers, practitioners, students and donors from 129 countries gathered in Marrakech, Morocco, to dive deep into the latest developments in SBCC. It was also a space for self-reflection, with sessions on shifting power dynamics and decision-making within the field, with an eye towards making future Summits even more inclusive. The 2022 Summit brought in more diverse perspectives, ideas and voices than ever before. Organizers promise there will be even more expansive in terms of topics, participants and breadth of ideas in 2026.
“This announcement is just the beginning of our journey to 2026,” write Freitas López and Fagbemi. “The Summit promises to be a wonderful week of learning and collaboration, of seeing old friends and making new connections to strengthen the ever-growing field of SBCC.”
