In many parts of Ethiopia, sexual and reproductive health services for young people exist. Yet many still avoid them.

For adolescents seeking care, the barriers are often immediate. They are often turned away because of age, judged for being unmarried, or treated in other ways that feel dismissive. For young people with disabilities, those barriers can be even greater.

Addressing these experiences requires more than expanding services. It can mean changing how care is delivered.

At the 2026 International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit in Panama, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and partners will present an approach that helps providers and young people understand how judgment shows up in care, and how to make those interactions more respectful and supportive.

The work is part of the Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH 2) project funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and led by the International Planned Parenthood Federation. It starts with a simple idea: if trust is shaped in the interaction between clients and health care providers, it can also be rebuilt there.

The approach used Empathways, a structured, interactive exercise first developed under the now-closed, CCP-led Breakthrough ACTION project. The guided, card-based activity helps providers and young people surface the biases and social norms that shape care and talk through how those affect real interactions.

Rather than focusing only on what providers should say or do, Empathways creates space for providers and young people to reflect together on the beliefs and assumptions that shape those encounters. Participants examine how social norms, gender expectations, and personal experiences influence care. So far, about 150 providers have been trained by WISH 2.

For providers, that often means recognizing how bias shows up in practice, from assumptions about unmarried youth to decisions about who is “ready” for services and discomfort in discussing certain topics. These are not always explicit, but they shape whether young people feel welcomed and respected.

“Empathways was a real turning point for me because it helped me look inward and evaluate my own behavior,” one female health provider told researchers. “I found communication and confidentiality part very relatable. Confidentiality is a key in our service delivery.”

Service providers and young people who participated in the program describe stronger connections and more open dialogue. Providers report greater awareness of how their attitudes influence service quality. In these fragile settings, this has translated into concrete changes, including more attention to confidentiality and a stronger commitment to making services inclusive, particularly for displaced youth, conflict-affected communities and young people with disabilities.

During one workshop, a service provider from the Amhara region was paired with a visually impaired young person. Through listening to the young person’s experiences and challenges, the provider realized that existing services were not adequately addressing her needs.

The conversation deepened the provider’s understanding and became a transformational moment, motivating them to be more intentional about improving services for young people with disabilities such as taking more time to communicate and understand their need.

The work has also been shaped by the systems around it. Regional Health Bureaus in Amhara, Tigray, and Afar were involved in the adaptation of the tool to local contexts and integrate it into existing training programs. That involvement has been critical to sustaining the approach over time.

What makes the model notable is not only the tool itself, but how it is used.

“Youth and providers participate together, with space for reflection,” says Esete Getachew, CCP’s senior social and behavior change advisor for Ethiopia. “By encouraging listening, Empathways changes how people relate to one another within the health system.”

The implications extend beyond Ethiopia.

“Efforts to improve youth access to services often focus on availability or information,” she says. “These are necessary, but it is trusted interactions that are central to success.”

When young people expect judgment at clinics, they are less likely to show up. When providers reflect on how norms and biases shape their behavior, things begin to shift.

The result is not immediate transformation, but a gradual change in how care is experienced.

“In fragile settings, where trust in institutions is often limited, those shifts can matter as much as any expansion in services,” says Uttara Bharath Kumar, who leads the WISH2 project for CCP.

This abstract is among more than a dozen presentations offered by CCP at the 2026 SBCC Summit, which runs from June 22 to 26. There is still time to register. For more information, click here.