Expertise

Our mission is simple:
To inspire and empower people around the world to make healthy choices for themselves and their families.

How do we do this? CCP is a laboratory for communication and development, using evidence and experience to create new solutions to new problems – and the old ones that have proven most challenging to overcome.

We ask people what they need and how we can help. And then we listen. We never settle. We design, study and test our programs – and then do it all over again to ensure our work helps the most people.

Social and Behavior Change

We believe in the transformational power of communication to help people adopt healthy behaviors and overcome harmful social norms.

We use traditional and new media, from town criers to television to social media. We use face-to-face communication. We engage religious and other community leaders to be our champions. We ask people what they need and then collaborate with them to develop solutions. We have learned that these are the ways to make lasting change – and we are always looking for new ways to make a difference.

Knowledge Management

We all need access to the latest, up-to-the-minute, evidence-based information to do our jobs well.

But for health professionals — from community health workers and physicians to program managers and policymakers — having the appropriate information and the ability to share it effectively can be a matter of life and death. If the information is out-of-date or misleading, the health consequences can be serious.

CCP use behavioral science and design thinking principles, and tools like automation software, to consider each person’s learning preferences and connect them to information and resources that are unique to their needs. Our goal is to make it easier for individuals to find, share and use high-quality health information. It’s just another way that CCP’s tools make a real difference.

 

Advocacy

Sometimes individual change isn’t enough to overcome barriers to a healthier life. Sometimes a system is the greater barrier. That’s why advocacy is critical piece of CCP’s mission.

Part of creating lasting behavior change often involves winning the backing of decision-makers, policymakers and others who can commit the resources, enact the necessary policies to support good health around the world or upend structural hurdles standing in the way.

We have, for example, convinced governments to devote financial resources to family planning and persuaded health insurance companies to cover family planning benefits. It’s all part of what communication can do.

 

Risk Communication

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, CCP was ready, having honed our risk communication skills during previous outbreaks of Zika and Ebola. We help governments and other partners understand how to jump into action, how to clearly communicate the messages people need to hear and how to stop harmful rumors in their tracks.

COVID-19 was a brand-new virus and yet CCP had the tools in place to make an immediate impact in dozens of countries across Asia and Africa. We are already at work to prevent the next pandemic, whatever it may be.

Applied Research

We are part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health which means we bring a scientific lens to all that we do.

For more than 30 years, CCP’s researchers have developed and tested theories that help explain why people behave the way they do and how communication can influence health behaviors in a positive way. Research infuses every step of our work from determining what each community needs to creating effective evidence-based programs to careful evaluation to ensure what we learn drives a new cycle of results-driven solutions.

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