ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Ecology and Anthropology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1609237
Reclaiming voices, rethinking change: A decolonial and knowledge-ecological analysis of SBCC nutrition interventions in Senegal
Provisionally accepted
Sylvain Landry Birane FAYE1*
Georgette Helene Coumba Sow2- 1Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal
- 2S&F PRO CONSULTING, MANTECA, CALIFORNIA, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This article critically examines the design and implementation of Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) interventions in Senegal’s nutrition programs through a decolonial and knowledge-ecological lens. Despite increased reliance on SBCC strategies to improve resilience against food and nutrition insecurity, particularly among parents and caregivers, improved knowledge has not consistently translated into sustained dietary changes. Drawing on qualitative research conducted between 2020 and 2024 on malnutrition, stunting, and food fortification (notably of rice and broth cubes), this study examines the epistemological gap between biomedical recommendations and local food practices. Findings suggest that dominant SBCC models often reproduce top-down, normative messages shaped by Western nutrition science and national dietary guidelines, with limited engagement with community knowledge, cultural norms, or local food ecologies. These approaches risk reinforcing technocratic and neoliberal paradigms while marginalizing community agency. We argue for a decolonial and knowledge-ecological approach that centers epistemic justice, relational ethics, and community co-creation. By integrating local understandings, environmental constraints, and plural knowledges, nutrition interventions can become more inclusive, adaptive, and sustainable. This shift is crucial for addressing the structural, cultural, and ecological factors that contribute to malnutrition in Senegal and similar contexts.
Keywords: Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), Decolonial approaches, nutrition intervention, indigenous knowledge, Community engagement (CE), Epistemic (in) justice, Senegal, Food ecology
Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 FAYE and Sow. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sylvain Landry Birane FAYE, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.