Think | BIG

Behavior Integration Guidance

Meet the future of social and behavior change.

Learn More Contact Us LOG IN

BIG moves you through behavior analysis, program design, and program measurement by following a three-phased approach:

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS - Phase 1: Focus and Analyze – finds pathways to change by capturing behavior profiles.

PROGRAM DESIGNPhase 2: Design and Manage – influences pathways to change by implementing a behavior-led social and behavior change strategy.

PROGRAM MEASUREMENTPhase 3: Track and Adapt – gauges success along pathways to change by measuring behavioral outcomes. 

Click on each phase tab or name to learn more about the individual phases.  Or go straight to any section using the navigation menu at the top of the page. 

Want to see a full picture of the process in action?  Check out the online or offline PDF overview.

Image of process - FOCUS and ANALYZE; DESIGN and MANAGE; TRACK and ADAPT

BIG’s first phase, Focus and Analyze, will help you achieve three goals.  To:

  • identify
  • prioritize
  • analyze

a list of priority behaviors that target community members could increase or take up.

Phase one of Think | BIG moves through five steps to lay this groundwork for success.  You will:

  1. Identify your goal and find out what stops the goal from getting done.
  2. Pick out the behaviors that matter most to making the goal happen.
  3. Prioritize behaviors to recognize primary actors and actions.
  4. Analyze factors preventing/supporting uptake, supporting actors, and strategy options for behaviors.
  5. Think about how to measure priority behaviors and most important factors.

To help you with the Focus and Analyze phase we have custom-built power tools, like:

BIG’s second phase, Design and Manage, will help you complete three more goals.  To:

  • summarize
  • design
  • manage

your program activities, keeping them focused on behaviors and synergies while slashing redundancies to maintain your momentum.

Phase two of Think | BIG consists of five steps that foster gains toward your goal.  You will:

  1. Summarize the priority behaviors for strategy design.
  2. Develop your results framework.
  3. Generate the strategy narrative.
  4. Design activities in harmony with your behaviors and goals.
  5. Implement your activities.

To guide you during the Design and Manage phase we have a range of expert tools, such as:

 

BIG’s third and final phase, Track and Adapt, will help you accomplish three final goals.  To:

  • set
  • track
  • adapt

the behavioral targets, metrics, and activities you monitor, evaluate, and manage to reach your goal.

Phase three of Think | BIG finishes things up via five steps.  You will:

  1. Set targets of success for your behavioral uptake and factor-level changes.
  2. Monitor how much behavior change is happening.
  3. Monitor how many important factors are changing.
  4. Adapt your activities to accelerate the rate of behavioral uptake.
  5. Evaluate your activities and gather lessons learned.

To support you during the Track and Adapt phase we have several no-nonsense visual tools, like:

Global challenges, like better health, education, and socio-economic equity for people and communities, are big problems. That’s why our team of experts came up with a big solution: Think | BIG, a whole ecosystem approach to create programs that are behavior-led, not intervention-driven.

Solving health and development challenges requires that people do something differently than they’re doing today. These people may be a part of systems or institutions that need change. And they come from all sectors: policy makers, community leaders, service providers, market actors, and family members. Sustained change and lasting results happen when program elements – policies, financing, service delivery, and more – are aligned.

Behavior Integration Guidance (BIG) is a framework that ensures that people, and their behaviors, are at the heart of program design and implementation. BIG applies social and behavioral sciences and leverages approaches like human-centered design and systems thinking to improve health and development outcomes for all. Think | BIG pulls our field-tested framework together into a ready-to-use suite of tools.

What people do is at the heart of the solution. Get rapid results in communities you care about. Put Think BIG in the driver’s seat and get ready to meet the future of social and behavior change.

JSI teams are Thinking BIG

The Bantwana Initiative in Western Uganda uses behavioral integration to strengthen educational programming to reduce sexual and other forms of violence against pre-adolescent and adolescent girls and boys.
Under USAID MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity, we are applying behavior integration to strengthen provider behaviors, increase and sustain vaccine demand within communities, and improve the quality of routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination. 
In our work with the City of Boston, World Education’s Ed Tech Center is developing behavior profiles for adult learners to strengthen program quality and support for optimal digital literacy behaviors.
In our work with the International Organization for Migration, JSI applies a behavioral lens to instructional and clinical design of migratory nurse training and standard operating procedures. 
Under USAID Advancing Nutrition, we developed tools for high quality SBC processes for nutrition programs using behavior integration – linking each step of a behavioral profile into a measurable pathway that connected behaviors to program activities.
With our consortium partners, our Strategies to Prevent (STOP) Spillover team applies a behavioral lens to understand and address the threats posed by zoonotic viral diseases.