For five days, Panama lived up to its reputation as a bridge.

Researchers, practitioners, policymakers, students, community leaders, advocates and storytellers from around the world gathered in Panama City for the 2026 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit, bringing different experiences, disciplines and perspectives to one conversation about the future of the field.

More than 800 participants from Argentina to Zambia and 100 countries in between made it the most globally representative SBCC Summit to date. One in five participants was a youth or emerging leader, reflecting the Summit’s commitment to the next generation of social and behavior change professionals.

Co-hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), the Summit brought together a global community at a time of profound change for the field.

Organizations are navigating shrinking funding, rapid advances in artificial intelligence, misinformation, climate change, persistent inequities and growing challenges to public trust. The Summit became more than a forum to share research and best practices. It became a place to ask difficult questions, exchange ideas and reimagine how social and behavior change communication can meet a rapidly changing world.

CCP’s Executive Director Debora Freitas López, co-chair of the Summit, captured that purpose in her opening remarks.

“This week is not simply another conference,” she said. “It is a moment for our field to reflect, to learn, to challenge ourselves and to reimagine what comes next.”

That spirit shaped every conversation that followed.

Participants arrived with different priorities and expertise. Some work in public health. Others focus on education, democracy, climate resilience, conservation, gender equity or community development. They represented universities, governments, nonprofit organizations, multilateral agencies and the private sector. They came from every region of the world with different experiences and different ideas, yet many found themselves grappling with the same questions.

How can social and behavior change programs remain sustainable in a changing funding landscape? How should communicators respond to polarization and misinformation? What role should artificial intelligence play? How can evidence move more quickly into practice? How can communities themselves shape the solutions designed to serve them?

Early in the week, Keshia Pollack Porter, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, offered an idea that echoed throughout the Summit.

“Information alone does not change lives,” she said. “Trust, relationships and human connections do.”

That theme resurfaced throughout the week.

One plenary confronted the reality of shrinking global funding for social and behavior change programs. Rather than dwell on what had been lost, speakers focused on what could be built through stronger partnerships, new collaborations, domestic resource mobilization and more sustainable approaches to financing. The conversation reflected a broader shift in the field from reacting to constraints to identifying opportunities.

Another day, participants explored how social and behavior change efforts can thrive amid rising polarization, shrinking civic space and growing challenges to human rights. Moderator Mimi Kalinda, co-founder of Africa Communications Media Group, reminded the audience that lasting change begins with people.

“People buy into people before they buy into concepts, ideas and ideologies,” she said.

For Priyanka Kher of Breakthrough India, meaningful change begins with understanding people rather than trying to persuade them.

“The one thing that has worked is really to meet people where they are,” she said.

Later in the week, the conversation turned to artificial intelligence. Rather than debating whether AI belongs in the field, speakers explored how it can strengthen program design, audience engagement and learning while emphasizing that innovation must be guided by trust, equity, cultural relevance and accountability.

Across each discussion, the message was remarkably consistent. Technology matters. Funding matters. Evidence matters. But none of those can replace listening, relationships and the knowledge that already exists within communities.

Some of the Summit’s most meaningful moments happened outside the meeting rooms.

The exhibition hall buzzed between sessions as attendees explored interactive exhibits, connected with organizations from around the world, browsed Panamanian crafts and shared reflections in the Insights Space. Hallway conversations stretched well beyond scheduled breaks. Longtime colleagues reunited while first-time attendees quickly became part of the community.

One of the week’s most memorable conversations featured Panamanian musician, actor, activist and former Minister of Tourism Rubén Blades in discussion with New York University professor Carlos Chirinos.

Before the conversation began, attendees filled the room with energy, dancing to Blades’ music. The mood reflected the affection for an artist whose songs have become woven into the cultural fabric of Latin America.

Blades appeared not as a performer but as a storyteller, reflecting on what he described as his accidental journey into songwriting and on the enduring influence of Amor y Control, a deeply personal song inspired by his own family. He described how the song took on a life of its own, becoming part of public conversations across Latin America and even facing periods of censorship before ultimately becoming one of his best-known works.

He also shared a lesson from his grandmother that has stayed with him throughout his life.

“We are not poor,” she told him. “The thing is we do not have money. Poor is the person who doesn’t have anything in his head and in his soul.”

The exchange underscored another lesson that surfaced throughout the Summit. Stories have the power to shape culture, challenge assumptions and help people see themselves in one another.

By the Summit’s final day, participants gathered to reflect on what they had learned together. The listening team that had spent the week capturing conversations across sessions identified four recurring insights: trust communities, embrace disruption as an opportunity to learn, strengthen relationships and tell authentic stories.

Participants were challenged to identify one personal action they would take in the next 30 days and one institutional change they would champion after returning home, reinforcing the idea that the Summit’s value would ultimately be measured not by what happened in Panama but by what participants carried forward.

The celebration concluded with the joyful rhythms of a Panamanian Afro dance performance, sending participants home with one last reminder of the culture, community and connections that defined the week.

Looking back on five days of conversation and collaboration, Ana Carrapichano, co-chair of the Summit’s International Steering Committee, reflected on what had made the event special.

“It’s been trust, not just networking. It’s been listening,” she said. “It’s hard to listen, but we’ve allowed one another to speak and to listen.”

It was a fitting close to five days that reminded a global community why coming together still matters.