Strategies for Behaviour Change

Course objectives:
Behaviour change lies at the heart of many sustainable development interventions. Over the last 20 years, great strides have been made in understanding how people decide on the best choices and what makes them act on their decisions. This course draws on theory and case studies to explore how development practitioners can apply the insights from behavioural science to their work. It equips participants with tools and frameworks for increasing the effectiveness of existing interventions and for identifying new pathways to achieve development outcomes. Participants will also develop an appreciation of ethical objections to behavioural interventions and understand the limitations of such approaches. They will reflect on the biases to which development professionals themselves are prone and assess how these might be counteracted.

Key topics:

• Being human – why we do the things we do? Biases, preferences, and heuristics
• Theories and models of behaviour change
• Designing behaviour change interventions and measuring performance
• Ethical concerns and limitations of behaviour change approaches
• The future of behaviour for development cooperation
  

ECTS points: 
2