April 2022
This year, the Agile 50 list recognizes the contributions of leaders in agile governance for navigating disruption. It seeks to laud politicians, civil servants, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs driving agility in governments, regulation and policymaking across the globe.
Dr. Makki’s citation notes:
“Dr. Makki pioneered applications of behavioural insights and nudge concepts in the Arab region, in a variety of public policy areas, including healthy lifestyle, COVID-19 compliance and vaccine uptake, sustainability, education, rule of law, inclusion and the prevention of violent extremism. He has been instrumental in growing the use of behavioural science tools in the Global South through advocacy and capacity-building for governments, NGOs, academia and private sector entities with a social purpose.”
Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with UNDP and B4Development released a new report on how to strengthen women and youth inclusion in PVE
Enhancing Efforts to Prevent Violent Extremism by Leveraging Behavioural Insights
March 24, 2022
As a supplement to the guidance note, “Applying Behavioural Science to Support the prevention of violent Extremism: Experiences and Lessons Learned”, Nudge Lebanon in collaboration with UNDP and B4Development released a report on enhancing efforts to PVE by leveraging insights from practical experiments.
This report presents results and lessons learned from three behavioral interventions carried out in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from 2020-2021, aiming to use behavioral insights as a tool to strengthen the participation of women and youth into UNDP’s programming to prevent violent extremism. The report aims to provide practical insights for practitioners on how to design and carry out behavioral interventions for PVE by giving an insight into both the design process and the results of these three experiments.
Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with UNDP and B4Development, is proud to announce the release of a guidance note on Applying Behavioural Science to Support the Prevention of Violent Extremism: Experiences and Lessons Learned
April 21, 2021
Being at the forefront of pioneering the use of behavioural science for preventing violent extremism, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with UNDP and B4Development, is proud to announce the release of a guidance note on Applying Behavioural Science to Support the Prevention of Violent Extremism: Experiences and Lessons Learned. This guidance note provides step-by-step suggestions for practitioners who are looking for ways to make use of findings from the behavioural sciences in the context of violent extremism – particularly through strengthening of preventive measures. This important work has been the culmination of four years of partnership with UNDP and piloting experiments in Yemen and Sudan. Insights from this work have further been applied in PVE programming in Central and South Asia. The guidance note was officially launched on 21st April 2021 during a UNDP event to discuss the application of behavioural science in PVE-related contexts.
Nudge Lebanon launches its Behavioral Economics course at the Lebanese University for the second year in a row
Behavioral Economics Course – Spring Semester of the 2021 Academic Year
For the second year in a row, Nudge Lebanon in collaboration with B4Development is proud to have launched its Behavioral Economics course for students at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Lebanese University. The course introduces students to the theoretical foundations of behavioral economics, and its practical aspects covering evidence-based policies and impact evaluations.
Nudge Lebanon proud to announce Dr. Fadi Makki a member of WHO’s newly formed Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health, chaired by Professor Cass Sunstein
World Health Organization – July 30, 2020
Learn more about the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health: https://www.who.int/departments/science-division/behavioural-insights/TAG-on-behavioural-insights-and-sciences-for-health-biographies
Promoting Vaccine Acceptance Through the Use of Dynamic Social Norm and an Emotional Appeal
Context:
Despite hopes brought about by the speedy development of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine hesitancy remains one of the biggest challenges to ensuring community immunity and a quick return to normal. In 2021, as part of a KAP survey to assess people’s knowledge, attitudes and practices towards the vaccine in two universities in Lebanon, Nudge Lebanon increased respondent’s willingness to vaccinate by about 6% and 5% using a dynamic social norm and an emotional appeal respectively.
Behavioral Challenge:
In the realm of vaccine hesitancy, several behavioral challenges are at stake, including misperceptions around the safety and importance of the vaccine, overconfidence of getting the virus, denial of the severity and existence of COVID-19, among others.
Intervention Summary:
In a survey experiment and prior to reporting their willingness to vaccinate, respondents in the treatment group were exposed to either a dynamic social norm that illustrated the number and the increasing trend in vaccine registrations, or an emotional appeal that made salient the benefits that community vaccination would provide for those unable to vaccinate.
Impact:
Both messages led to a statistically significant increase in the reported willingness to vaccinate. The emotional appeal was specifically effective at decreasing vaccine hesitancy by 31%.
Increasing Compliance With Social Distancing Through Behaviorally Informed Interventions
Context:
Although governments have exerted efforts to control the spread of the corona virus, it may not have the desired impact if a significant proportion of the population are unable or unwilling to comply. In 2020, Nudge Lebanon, B4Development in collaboration with the London School of Economics, conducted a study in Middle Eastern and Latin American countries to test whether risk perceptions towards COVID-19 and time had an impact on compliance.
Behavioral Challenge:
Individuals tend to comply less with preventive measures overtime due to behavioral fatigue and risk habituation.
Intervention Summary:
Individuals took a pilot survey about their risk perceptions and compliance with preventive behaviors. 10 days later, they were asked to answer a follow up survey on their compliance with the initial preventive behaviors.
Impact:
The results showed that handwashing behaviors significantly decreased overtime in both Latin America and the Middle East. Additionally, increased risk perceptions also increased compliance rates, in particular, with restrictions on social gatherings by 12 ppt. The results were higher in magnitude in the Middle Eastern sample, showing a 24 ppt increase in compliance.
Boosting Attitudinal Resistance Against Extremist Persuasion Techniques Using the Radicalise Game
Context:
Online recruitment by violent extremist organizations has proven to be a pernicious problem. In recent years, hundreds of US and European citizens have joined extremist organizations in the Middle East or were apprehended in the attempt. In 2019, Nudge Lebanon and researchers from the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with B4Development, developed and tested a novel online game, Radicalise, which aims to combat the effectiveness of online recruitment strategies used by extremist organizations.
Behavioral Challenge:
People are more vulnerable to manipulative arguments and malicious communications that they have not been exposed to earlier.
Intervention Summary:
Participants played the Radicalise game, which gave them the opportunity to experience and orchestrate a simulated recruitment mission by taking the perspective of the “bad guy”. By way of playing the game, participants were cognitively engaged in the process of refuting weakened arguments that were presented to them about various manipulation techniques used in typical online extremist recruitments, helping confer attitudinal resistance against potential real attempts to target them with extremist propaganda. After playing the games, rated a number of WhatsApp messages for to their manipulativeness as well as a number of vignettes of people based on how vulnerable they are to extremist recruitment.
Impact:
After playing the game, the treatment group is significantly better at assessing the manipulativeness of these messages, compared to the control group. The treatment group were also significantly better at identifying the vulnerability of targets.
Increasing Educational Engagement and Financial Literacy Learning Through Behaviorally Framed Messages
Context:
Lebanese and displaced Syrians have difficulty in achieving financial stability due to a lack of formal employment opportunities and poor financial management skills. In 2019, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with Positive Planet International and the Makhzoumi Foundation, designed an intervention to re-engage a group of entrepreneurs previously enrolled in a business training program and improve their learning outcomes.
Behavioral Challenge:
Vulnerable individuals facing scarcity have limited cognitive bandwidth to engage in learning material and financial planning
Intervention Summary:
The intervention entailed sending SMS messages utilizing ‘family identity’ and ‘loss aversion’ framing with corresponding links to short videos reinforcing previous learning outcomes (i.e. saving, budgeting, financial planning, and spending). In addition, pre and post recall tests were administered to assess learning outcomes before and after the intervention.
Impact:
The intervention results descriptively show that those who watched at least one of the four videos reported higher test scores than those who did not watch any of the videos.
Increasing Salad Consumption Using Dynamic Social Norms
Context:
Studies show that a vegetarian diet can offer a range of health benefits such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer. Despite this, meat consumption remains substantially high amongst the Lebanese population. In 2019, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with students from the American University of Beirut, designed a behavioral intervention to increase salad orders at a local restaurant in Beirut.
Behavioral Challenge:
Although individuals are aware of the importance of vegetables in their daily diets, the majority of people still overwhelmingly consume non-vegetarian food items.
Intervention Summary:
Subjects received a dynamic social norm illustrating the increasing trend of vegetable consumption in Lebanon which was delivered through a short survey they were asked to complete when seated at their table.
Impact:
The intervention led to a statistically significant increase in the probability of a salad being ordered by diners by 54%.
Increasing the Uptake of Immunization Services Among Unvaccinated Children Through a Behaviorally Informed Calendar
Context:
With a rapidly growing population and a rise in poverty levels, measles has reemerged in low coverage areas across Lebanon. In response, the Accelerated Immunization Activities (AIA) program was launched to provide quality immunization services for every child through the primary healthcare system. In 2018, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Public Health, implemented and evaluated a behavioral intervention to improve the delivery of the AIA program.
Behavioral Challenge:
Many caretakers fail to vaccinate their children due to lack of trust in the quality of services provided by healthcare centers, a strong belief that they are entitled to received better vaccination services, the adverse influence of peers who have had a negative experience at a healthcare center, neglect and forgetfulness, and the lack of awareness that others are using the service.
Intervention Summary:
Subjects received a behaviorally-informed calendar that used a collection of behavioral tools including social norms, commitment, implementation intention plan, effect of messenger, and a salient reminder utilizing the kitchen-sink approach.
Impact:
The intervention led to a statistically significant increase in the probability of household vaccinating at least one child by 50%.
Increasing the Likelihood of Mental Health Patients Following-up With Their Health Providers Through Self-Assessment Cards
Context:
In 2015, the Ministry of Public Health Lebanon launched the 2015-2020 National Mental Health Strategy in an effort to integrate mental health into Primary Healthcare centres through the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) . To complement the objectives of the National Mental Health Strategy in 2018, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with NMHP, designed and implemented a behavioral intervention to increase the likelihood of mental health patients following-up with their health providers.
Behavioral Challenge:
Individuals fail to follow-up with their mental health providers due to forgetfulness, which can be more prominent among patients with depression as they can have a tendency to be more forgetful.
Intervention Summary:
Subjects received a self-assessment card to track their daily mood change and to remind them of their prescheduled follow up appointment.
Impact:
The intervention led to a statistically significant increase in the probability of following-up with mental health providers by 31%. There was also an association between follow-up attendance and characteristics related to symptom severity, age, nationality and type of patient (new or existing). Exploratory analysis reveals differences in response among new and existing patients, as well as patients with different levels of depression. New patients and patients with mild and moderate symptoms displayed higher odds of attending the follow-up appointment as a result of the intervention.
Increasing the Likelihood of Vulnerable Youth Attending Community Support Sessions Through a Commitment Device and Reminders
Context:
As part of its ongoing efforts to alleviate the impact of the war in Yemen on its inhabitants, the UNDP and its partners developed psychosocial support sessions to help participants cope with trauma, address conflicts, and build social cohesion. In 2018, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with UNDP, designed a behavioral intervention in Yemen to increase the likelihood of vulnerable youth attending psychosocial support sessions.
Behavioral Challenge:
Many vulnerable youth fail to attend community support sessions because they have limited processing power, experience present bias, are forgetful or procrastinate. These challenges are amplified under the increased stress of conflict and poverty.
Intervention Summary:
Subjects received a registration form that included a commitment section where they could tick a box to “promise to attend all 3 session”, a map of the session location to make it easy to find it, and later received SMS reminders.
Impact:
The intervention led to a statistically significant increase in the likelihood of vulnerable youth attending community support sessions by 23%.
Increasing Traffic to Anti-Corruption Hotline Through Salient Posters
Context:
To combat endemic corruption plaguing Lebanon, the Lebanese Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (LALAC) was established to provide free legal advice and information to witnesses and victims of corruption. In 2018, Nudge Lebanon, in collaboration with Lebanese Transparency Association, conducted an experiment with a Land Registry of Baabda to increase the use of the LALAC anti-corruption hotline.
Behavioral Challenge:
Individuals fail to report cases of corruption due to lack of awareness about anti-corruption hotlines, they perceive that corruption is on the rise which lowers expectations for change, and the perceived inefficiency of official complaint channels.
Intervention Summary:
Salient posters and roll-ups were distributed in key locations in the Baabda central area about the LALAC hotline.
Impact:
The intervention led to a 6-fold increase in traffic to the call centre, a result directly associated to the campaign.
