Impact Communication
September 5th, 2025
4 Steps to Create Tools That Work On-Ground
Our approach to creating communication tools that people actually use
Ankita Mirani, Social Designer and Founder @Social Innovation Studio
Archana A S, Communication Lead @Social Innovation Studio
Photo credit: Social Innovation Studio
What’s Inside:
Across the development sector, countless programs are designed with good intentions, powerful ideas, and well-structured strategies. Yet, many of them face a common challenge we’ve observed: strategy getting translated to the grassroots but failing to achieve the change it’s intended to create.
Think about your program interventions.
Do you have trouble with driving mindset and behaviour shifts?
Do you struggle with connecting and engaging with your community?
Do your tools or campaigns see low adoption rates?
Today, we're breaking down why most communications fail and sharing our systemic approach to building tools that work i.e tools that go beyond awareness and create lasting impact. Our goal is simple: make communication not just informative, but actionable, relatable, and owned by the community.
The Problem with "Solution-First" Thinking
Here’s the biggest mistake we see in impact programs today: thinking of the solution first instead of understanding the problem.
Most program communication is created in boardrooms — designed to inform donors or policymakers, not the people who actually use or experience it. The result? Disconnects between what’s shared and what’s understood on the ground.
What we consistently observe:
Communication is usually designed for donors, not communities, creating a gap in how programs are understood and used.
Field teams struggle with clunky, one-size-fits-all tools that don’t work in low-literacy or highly localised contexts.
Awareness materials often don’t translate into actual adoption or behaviour change because they are too generic or text-heavy.
Complex jargon makes it hard for communities to grasp key messages.
Communities fail to see their own role or benefit in the information presented.
The Outcome?
Resources implemented in full capacity and community behaviours still unchanged.
Our 4-Step Impact Communication Process
Over 60+ projects across diverse sectors have taught us one thing: the magic lies in the process.
It’s about listening deeply, engaging with communities, and co-creating tools that truly work in the field.
Step 1: Onboarding & Scoping
What we do:
Align with program teams on the real need
Create an early sketch of community profiles
Identify plausible communication tools
This is where we set the foundation, getting everyone on the same page and, most importantly, listening first.
Key questions we explore:
What specific behaviours need to change, and among whom?
What are the real constraints that multiple stakeholders face?
Step 2: Explore & Identify
What we do:
Spend time with the community to understand mindsets and practices
Study how information currently flows (and where it gets stuck)
Identify formats and topics that resonate
Define the final communication tools
This stage reveals what’s working, what’s not, and where communication needs to change.
From a community lens, we ask:
What makes information trustworthy and actionable?
What cultural or contextual factors influence how people process it?
For field teams, we explore:
What are the real touchpoints where communication happens?
What kind of ready-to-use tools do they need to facilitate change?
Step 3: Ideate & Co-Create
What we do:
Co-create with communities and program teams
Prototype tools and test them (even over WhatsApp!)
Build simple, relatable, and easy-to-use formats
Because a tool only works if people see themselves in it.
Our non-negotiable: everything is localised and contextualised. Generic solutions fail because people can’t relate and see themselves; our approach ensures they can.
Step 4: Feedback & Evolve
What we do:
Conduct structured rounds of feedback with teams
Iterate until tools are easy, usable, and loved
(Optional: Pilot-test with small groups)
We test for:
Does it work under real field conditions?
Do people find it useful and engaging?
The best tools are never “done”; they evolve with the program.
The process only works when the final tool feels like it belongs to the community, is low-literacy friendly, rooted in local languages, visual, and designed for everyday use.
Behaviour Science in Action
The Case: Psychological Safety & Workplace Behavioural Nudges
When we partnered with an organisation to design their workplace harassment and ethical conduct communications, we faced some key challenges:
Employees avoided dense policy language
Critical safety information was buried in legal jargon
Reporting processes seemed inaccessible to most workers
Our behaviour science approach:
Real representation: Created mascots based on actual employees to reduce psychological distance and increase relatability.
Visual storytelling: Translated abstract legal frameworks into relatable, everyday scenarios.
Sensitive tone: Maintained the seriousness of the issue without making the content intimidating.
Step-by-step guidance: Used visual cues and illustrations to demystify the POSH redressal process.
The outcome:
Complex legal frameworks turned into clear, memorable, and actionable tools that employees could connect with and use confidently.
From Communication to Connection
The process of Impact Communication talks about how a program implementation tool(be it a poster, a video, or a guide) becomes meaningful when it’s owned by the people it’s meant for. That’s why we embed behaviour science into every stage and turn the strategy into stories people can live by.
How effective are your current communication tools in enabling your teams or communities to act? At Social Innovation Studio, we work closely with program, research, and field teams to design adaptable and localised tools that aid in shifting behaviours.
WhatsApp us your challenges. Let’s think through solutions together.
Looking to solve the root causes in your programs?
Get In Touch With Us
