You’ve made it to the last step in the behavior integration guidance (BIG) process!

It’s time to take a good look at your program and find out what you accomplished.

Your evaluation (especially for a behavior-led social and behavior change program like yours) should indicate several key things, particularly at the midway point of your program.  These indicators hopefully show that your program moved the needle in the right direction. We can summarize these desirable trends and changes, or lessons to learn, in a series of questions and what you should strive to see in your evaluation.

1. Is uptake of your priority behaviors (behavioral outcomes) moving in the right direction? 

This should be moving up towards your target.  That means increased uptake!  Your evaluation should demonstrate an increased uptake in your priority behaviors. 

For example:

When you started your program, only 16% of men harvested rotational crops. Now 35% are practicing it.  Your target was 40%. 

2. Are your factors changing in the right way (factor-level outcomes)?

Motivating factors should have been leveraged to improve support for adoption of your priority behaviors (moving them up toward your targets).  Barrier factors should have been eliminated to remove roadblocks to adopting the behaviors (moving them down towards your targets).  There should be an improved, supportive environment for structural, social, and internal factors. Your evaluation should demonstrate that this environment is in place and that you have helped to put it there.

For example:

When you began to implement your activities, only 32% of households had access to two of the needed nutritional foods required to practice the behavior. Now 40% have access to four out of the five needed nutritional foods to consume a diverse, healthy diet.  Your target was 40% would have access to five out of five needed nutritional foods.

3. Have any initial, key contextual issues (found in Step 3) changed, and if so, does this impact on your priority behavior choices?  

Contextual issues will impact on your program in many ways – hinder you, support you, affect your priorities, etc.  Your program should have the flexibility to adapt to the changing conditions as you learn new information.  You should be able to match the priorities of your context and work within the new conditions to promote or adjust your priority behaviors.  Your evaluation should demonstrate that your program made adaptations based on changing context and was flexible during implementation. 

For example:

When you began your program, breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months was a high priority for the government and no one else was working on this behavior in your program regions.  Now the government has placed emphasis on early initiation of breastfeeding, and it maintains exclusive breastfeeding on its list of priorities.  Plus, four new organizations are working in your area on exclusive breastfeeding – two on both exclusive breastfeeding and early initiation of breastfeeding. 

4. Are there any negative behavioral outcomes that you did not anticipate, and if so, how could you turn those around or eliminate them? 

Sometimes your priority behaviors will produce unexpected consequences.  It is important to recognize these correlations when you are monitoring and prepare to counter the effects of these consequences. Your evaluation should demonstrate your ability to see the synergies and that you helped to counter any unanticipated effects. 

For example:

In the beginning of your program, you wanted more women to vote in all elections, but especially the presidential elections.  As a result of your program activities, male partners have become more abusive because they don’t feel it is the woman’s place to meddle in politics.  Now, you have a priority behavior that cannot be promoted unless you also address the male partners’ behavior.

Results are great, but we always want to bring it back to behaviors.  You need to make the connection crystal clear.  What do these results tell you from a behavioral perspective?  And what would be the conclusions of your evaluation?  Here are examples of how to recognize and formulate that connection, using the four sample topics from above:

1. Behavior – Rotational crop harvesting.  You have increased behavioral uptake by 19%.  Though still 5% shy of your target, excellent progress and moving in the right direction!
2. Factor – Access to needed nutritional foods.  You have increased access to nutritional foods from two to four and increased the number of households accessing those foods by 8%.  While less than the full number of foods available, you have increased both the number available and the percentage accessing those foods.  Your progress is good and having the right impact.
3. Priority Behavior – Exclusive breastfeeding.  You selected this behavior because it was a priority for the government, among other reasons.  It is still a priority.  So, you are helping the government meet its health goals.  Although a new behavior emerged and others are helping you meet exclusive breastfeeding goals, you have been filling a need.  Your next program will determine whether to keep promoting exclusive breastfeeding, add early initiation of breastfeeding, or both.
4. Negative Behavioral Outcomes – Male partner “reactive” behaviors.  It is common for there to be reactions to the behaviors you are promoting with some primary actors (in this case women), by those not included in that group.  For this example, their male partners.  You have created an unintended consequence.  You acknowledge it and work to incorporate activities that involve the male partners and their understanding of the priority behaviors. If necessary, an additional priority behavior can be added for these male partners. 

If these were your mid-term evaluation results, then you are doing your job.  You are:

• learning,
• adapting,
• listening,
• improving, and
• changing behaviors.

You are bettering the lives of your primary actors!  Seeing those positive results and recognizing additional, nuanced challenges in communities you care about is empowering – for you and them.

Okay, wow.  Just WOW!  If you are at the end of this step, then you have completed the Behavior Integration process, using BIG, to start with behaviors, stay focused on behaviors, and measure your behavioral outcomes.  You. Are. Rockstars. (Maybe your project even made it into the BIG All Stars hall of fame.)

Feels good, right?  To help people improve their lives through changing their behaviors.  We are so happy to have been part of your journey.  We hope to travel together again soon as you navigate your next big social and behavior change (SBC) or social and behavior change communication (SBCC) project.

In fact, we bet you are starting up a new SBC program soon…  Or maybe you are working on putting together a continuation of this successful program?  The Behavior Analysis phase (aka Focus and Analyze) is your best starting point when you return.

You can also always download the complete BIG process schema to review. 

When you are ready, you can count on us to be ready too!  Reach out to level up your next round of BIG.

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