Case Studies
Armenia
Experimenting with tax compliance in Armenia
UNDP Armenia tested the impact of low-cost behavioral interventions on tax compliance as a complementary measure to conventional policy instruments (i.e. costly audits and fines). Compared to a scenario with no intervention, the low-cost interventions increased the turnover declaration by around 343,548 USD (9%) in the first quarter of 2020. Compared to a scenario with no intervention, the low-cost intervention increased the turnover tax declaration by around 87,509 USD (6.3%) in the first quarter of 2020.
Georgia
Exploring domestic violence bystanders' behaviour
In Georgia, a 2017 study revealed that 14 percent of ever-partnered women between the ages of 15 and 64 report having been sexually or physically abused by their partners. UNDP investigated, including through micro-narrative research, what keeps bystanders from reporting violence. The results have been used to develop a behaviourally informed information campaign that is being unrolled in community centres across the country, to change the perception that intimate partner violence is a private matter and to increase bystanders’ and survivors’ confidence and motivation to take action. A randomized control trial is being carried out to assess the intervention’s impact on reporting rates. At the same time, the partners have worked on improving the service delivery of hotline staff, to ensure that once incidents are reported, they are addressed in an appropriate manner.
Indonesia
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Malaysia
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Maldives
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Philippines
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Sri Lanka
Extreme Lives digital advocacy project in South and South East Asia
Implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Extreme Lives digital advocacy project produced short documentaries targeting at-risk youth in South and Southeast Asia. These feature personal testimonials from youth who have been at risk and have managed to change their life positively.The documentaries contained key messages and were designed using country-contextual research and behavioural insights. The intervention aimed to increase locus of control, speaking up behaviour and community connectedness among the target youth audience. These indicators were identified as the key to stimulate change in perceptions and behaviours of at-risk youth. Activity-based solutions offered in the videos include closer relations with family and friends, finding a mentor, engaging in hobbies and interests, finding a job, and engaging in volunteering, among others. To measure impact, a set of proxy indicators were developed and a survey, focus group discussions and other means were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data on change of perceptions and behaviours after watching the videos. Lessons learned from this intervention have been the importance of contextual research and the need to closely engage community actors who can support outreach on the ground.
Armenia
Facilitating education to employment transitions in Armenia
UNDP Armenia has designed interventions that will measure the impact of soft-skills training as a means of facilitating the transition from education to employment; and interventions to bridge skills mismatches in the labour market by supporting youth with their education choices.
Thailand
Green Giving Program in Thailand
Green Giving is a behaviourally-informed upcycling program that incentivizes office workers to recycle waste that can be upcycled into donatable products that waste pickers or “the backbone of recycling ecosystem” can use to perform their work. The program aims to educate office workers on why and how to properly segregate their recyclables and to incentivize people to recycle by allowing them to exchange recyclables for lucky draw tickets to win gold and more. While the program accepts plastics, glass, paper, and metal for recycling, it will upcycle only PET bottles into socially valuable products. The rest of the materials will be recycled accordingly.
Lebanon
Home care behaviours and attitudes among Lebanese men
In partnership with UNWOMEN, the UNDP Lebanon Accelerator Lab carried out an experiment to understand what gets Lebanese men interested in home care duties. Previous work in this area had evidenced that many men perceived housework as a way of helping their female family members rather than as a personal responsibility. The experiment tested various kinds of messaging around: the power of celebrity influence; linking home care duties to a monetary value; labelling home care as an "investment"; the vision of a "modern family"; appealing to self-signalling and ego; equating home care with self-independence; as well as testing "know how" as a barrier to doing home care. The messages were placed as Facebook ads which linked to a quiz (visited by 25,000 men and completed by 6,287 users) in which participants could indicate how much time they spend doing each type of housework. After completing the quiz, participants were able to access and choose to view a list of video tutorials on how to do the housework that research showed Men in Lebanon spend the least time on. The experiment found that messaging equating housework as the gateway to "self-independence" caught by far the most attention and that surprisingly "Family" was not a driver to action.
Kenya
Identifying online misinformation in Kenya
Information pollution, where facts and figures become a source of division in a country, has a huge impact on behaviour, social cohesion and public trust. If not addressed, mis- and disinformation can undermine civic culture by promoting general mistrust and encouraging sub-optimal behaviours. In 2021, the UNDP Accelerator Lab in Kenya partnered with Busara Center and the Healthy Internet Project (HIP) incubated at TED to conduct a live experimental demonstration of the HIP plug-in tool. The tool is an open-source web browser extension that allows users to flag content online anonymously. The experiment aimed to understand potential users’ motivations, experiences, and practices in using the platform to flag misinformation. The main findings from the experiment were: 1. Significant gaps in the general public's understanding of mis/disinformation requiring further awareness creation to avoid sentiment-based reporting. 2. Anonymity was a key concern when it came to flagging mis/disinformation with respondents citing fear of potential backlash especially when reporting politically-elated content. 3. One of the strongest non-financial incentives that came up was the need to provide a stronger feedback mechanism to communicate back to the user what happened with the content they flagged. This helps to ensure that users feel that their actions are making a difference and feel motivated to keep going 4. The importance of integrating a mobile phone interface for tools like HIP since the majority of internet users use their mobile devices more than PCs to access the internet.
Moldova
Improving adherence to tuberculosis treatment in Moldova
In Moldova, a project seeking to improve patients’ adherence to tuberculosis treatment found that patients whose treatment was observed remotely via video observation were twice as likely to take their medication (87 percent) compared to patients who were legally required to make daily in-person visits to the clinic (43 percent) – the latter being a costly and time-consuming process.
Chile
Improving the judicial process around GBV in Chile
UNDP Chile worked with the Prosecutor's Office in Santiago to reduce drop-out rates among gender-based violence (GBV) survivors in the judicial process. After extensive qualitative research with survivors, a system was designed to deliver better information, expectation management and empathetic support to plaintiffs by phone. The final intervention design draws heavily from a co-creation workshop with prosecutors and UNDP staff, which identified the right communication channels, key moments in the process, messages and tone for the intervention script.
Armenia
Improving the take-up of cervical cancer screening in Armenia
A randomised controlled trial (RCT) in Armenia, implemented by UNDP Armenia’s National SDG Innovation Lab tested the impact of low-cost interventions of letters and reminders on the uptake of a national cervical cancer screening program. Overall, 20,800 letters and 13,000 reminders were sent to a population of 36,508 women in Shirak province. The letters increased participation in the program by about 350 percent compared to the control group. The letters were especially effective when reinforced by reminders, increasing participation by about 460 percent compared to the control group that received no letters.
Georgia
Improving the uptake of HIV testing in Georgia
A joint programme of the UN Country Team led by UNDP and UNFPA used behavioural science to address the low uptake of HIV testing among youth in Georgia. Co-designed with youth practitioners, NGOs and public sector experts, the team conducted micronarratives research identifying key behavioural barriers. Based on this, a randomised control trial was designed in partnership with behavioural experts and local researchers to improve provision of self-tests and scale up the program with national health authorities.
Pakistan
Improving trainee recruitment in Pakistan
UNDP Pakistan used a behavioral science approach to improve trainee recruitment in a skills building programme to employ young people in the local garments industry in Karachi under the Youth Employment Project. The purpose of the research was to understand the process and drivers of recruitment within the project context to reach out to an intended target audience of 13,000 youth by enhancing the efficacy of project recruitment and outreach strategies. Based on the application and findings of the ‘COM-B’ tool, the research includes specific recommendations pertaining to communications, training design, and community outreach to improve trainee recruitment under the intervention.
Mongolia
Improving waste collection in Mongolia
An intervention seeking to improve waste collection at the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in Mongolia tested a combination of approaches, including distributing bags and installing waste containers at the park entrance with messages informed by behavioural insights. Waste collection increased by 86%.
