- Aha! Moment
How can behavior change framework and co-design improve social norms curricula?
Benjamin Gerard, Harriet Muutu, Lydia Christian, Monica Kay, and Zach Mills
- June 30, 2026
- 3:24 pm
SECTOR
PROJECT TYPE
Location
BEHAVIORAL THEME
OVERVIEW
This Aha! Moment explores how behavioral science and co-design can improve the development of social norms curricula aimed at addressing harmful social and gender norms. Working with Investing in Children and their Societies (ICS-SP), Busara applied the COM-B behavior change framework, co-design methods, validation workshops, and field testing across Kenya and Tanzania to redesign a social norms transformation curriculum and supporting monitoring and evaluation tools. The findings demonstrate that combining behavioral frameworks with community ownership produces more practical, contextually relevant, and effective implementation tools.
Research Questions
- How can behavior change frameworks improve the design of social norms curricula?
- What role does co-design play in creating effective and contextually relevant implementation tools?
- How can behavioral diagnostics strengthen curriculum development for addressing harmful social and gender norms?
Methods
The project applied the COM-B behavior change model to diagnose barriers and drivers of behavior change and guide curriculum development. Using co-design workshops, validation sessions, and field testing with community members and Change Agents in Kenya and Tanzania, Busara redesigned the Social Norms Transformation Curriculum, Facilitation Guide, and monitoring and evaluation tools to improve usability and implementation.
THEMATIC AREAS
Key Findings
- Behavioral science provides a strong theoretical foundation for designing effective social norms curricula.
- Co-design with community members and Change Agents improves contextual relevance and implementation.
- The COM-B framework helps identify behavioral barriers and opportunities, resulting in more practical curriculum design.
- Validation workshops reveal implementation gaps and strengthen curriculum revisions through local feedback.
- Field testing highlighted gender-specific participation barriers, including the withdrawal of male Change Agents in Tanzania.
- Community facilitators are most effective when treated as active co-designers rather than passive recipients of training.
Implications for Policy or Development
- Civil society organizations should embed behavioral science into curriculum and program design from the outset.
- Community facilitators and Change Agents should be engaged as co-designers to improve ownership and implementation.
- Validation and iterative testing should be standard practice for developing behavior change interventions.
- Future research should evaluate whether behaviorally informed curricula produce sustained behavior change and can be successfully adapted across different contexts.