Pune civic officials get training on social and behaviour changes of children for futuristic city planning

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials have received training on aspects of social and behaviour change (SBC) from the lens of young children and their families for futuristic city planning. The workshop series was designed by John Hopkins Centre for Communication Programs and supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, an independent organisation working on early childhood development.

This initiative aimed to support city officials in incorporating behaviour change into the design, planning, and management of projects and programmes from the lens of children below the age of five, under the global Urban95 initiative.

The association between the PMC and the Bernard van Leer Foundation focused on incorporating the lens of young children and their families in city planning and design. This was followed by four deep-dive sessions attended by PMC officials.

The capacity strengthening workshop was conducted virtually over four weeks with 3-hour weekly sessions. The participants were introduced to the Urban95 programme, an initiative of the Netherlands-based Bernard van Leer Foundation that asks, “If you could experience a city from 95 centimetres (the height of a three-year-old) what would you change?”

Uttara Bharat Kumar, senior social and behaviour change and capacity-strengthening advisor at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programme (CCP), said, “SBC is a discipline that uses a deep understanding of human and societal behaviour to create evidence-informed interventions. These interventions positively influence individual behaviours and their underlying social norms.”

Rushda Majeed, India representative, Bernard van Leer Foundation, noted, “We are very glad that city officials participated in the technical course to apply concepts of behaviour change into their work under Urban95 Pune. We hope to continue to strengthen our partnership with the city through such learning experiences as well their application on-the-ground in the city, to benefit young children and their caregivers.”