Behaviour Change Toolkit for International Development Practitioners

“The vast majority of development interventions have one thing in common: their goals can be achieved only if the target groups start practicing new behaviours, such as washing hands with soap, using new agronomic practices or sending girls to school.”

This toolkit is designed to give development practitioners the know-how they need to understand people's behaviours and to help people make positive changes in their lives. It highlights how behaviour change is key to addressing many development issues such as child mortality, climate change, gender inequality, and poor governance, and offers practical and easy-to-read guidance on how to go about developing a behaviour change intervention. It is based on insights gained from decades of research and the practical experience of development workers and social scientists into what determines how people behave.

The interactive toolkit (offering links to external resources) introduces the reader to the main theories of behaviour change, outlines the key steps to designing behaviour change projects, highlights what makes them successful, and explains some of the approaches and activities used by behaviour change interventions, such as community engagement, peer education, mass communication, and advocacy. It is intended to be used when preparing programme strategies, developing project proposals, or reviewing the quality of interventions. 

The contents of the toolkit are as follows:

Introduction

1. Behaviour Change Insights

• Behaviour Change: The Core of Development Work
• Whose Behaviour Needs to Change?
• Can Our Common Sense Mislead Us?
• (Un)Ethical Behaviour Change
• Culture and Behaviour  Change
• Behaviour Change Theories for Our Practice
• What Makes Behaviour Change Programs Succeed or Fail?

2. Designing for Behaviour Change in 7 Steps

Step 1: Select the Target Behaviours
Step 2: Define the Priority and Influencing Groups
Step 3: Understand the Barriers and Motivators
Step 4: Define What Your Activities Need to Achieve
Step 5: Make the Change Happen

• Designing the Activity Mix
• Creating Effective Communications
• Importance of Piloting and Pretesting
• Designing for Sustainability

Step 6: Measure Changes in Behaviours
Step 7: Document and Share the Results

3. Any Questions?

• FAQ on Changing Behaviours
• FAQ on Designing for Behaviour Change (DBC)
• FAQ on Barrier Analysis (BA)
• FAQ on Available Support and Resources