USAID General Publications Designing for Behavior Change: A Practical Field Guide

The Technical and Operational Performance Support (TOPS) Technical and Operational Performance Support Program. 2017. Designing for Behavior Change: A Practical Field Guide. Washington, DC: The Technical and Operational Performance Support Program.

The Designing for Behavior Change (DBC) Approach was developed to help designers think more critically when developing and reviewing a Behavior Change strategy. Using the Approach starts with developing a DBC Framework. It is commonly used in the design phase or during project start-up. The DBC Framework can also be used at midterm if the expected behavior(s) is not changing or not changing at the expected rate. In these cases, researching barriers to change can create greater understanding, and be used to adjust project strategies and activities. Using the DBC Framework at the end of a project can help develop behavior change strategies for the next project or next phase.

The process of developing a DBC Framework starts with identifying a problem such as high infant or child morbidity and mortality or low agricultural productivity. Next, identify the Behaviors that science or the International Declaration of Human Rights tells us will (usually) resolve the problem. This step precedes developing the Framework, and thus the Problem is not included on the Designing for Behavior Change (DBC) Framework.