Behavioral Prioritization: Which approach to use

Behavioral prioritization, often required when developing social and behavior change (SBC) strategies for integrated food security or other integrated programming, is a difficult task, which has only recently been discussed and responded to with a few effective tools and approaches. SBC practitioners and behavioral scientists grapple with behavioral prioritization as behaviors can differ a) in their impact on the problem; b) in the feasibility of the behavior for the audience (including their cultural appropriateness or the social and gender norms holding certain behaviors in place); c) in their complexity and number of sub-behaviors and drivers (projects with lesser behaviors have a greater chance of success); d) in their frequency or behavioral maintenance needed to be effective; and e) how measurable they are. This Behavioral Prioritization: Which Approach to Use – Tool is meant to help USAID Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) practitioners select appropriate approaches based on their program context. We are comparing existing tools on how much evidence and time is needed to use them appropriately and what activity or program type they could be applied to.