Integration for Behavior Change – Approaches and Challenges

This 2022 learning study was designed to document the Budikadidi project’s approach to multi-sectoral programming integration and offer insights for leveraging integration to promote and sustain social and behavior change (SBC).

Between 2017 and 2023, a CRS-led consortium implemented the USAID-funded Budikadidi Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in the DRC’s Kasaï Oriental Province to sustainably improve household nutrition, food security, and economic well-being. Project interventions were designed to be mutually reinforcing across these three sectors. Collectively targeting over 400,000 community members across 481 villages, Budikadidi was not designed to reach individual participants or households with all interventions. Instead, key behavior change messages were integrated across all project purposes with the aim of extending comprehensive benefits to the wider community. After the project midterm revealed that many interventions remained siloed, the project team invested in improved integration and launched a study in 2022 to understand the challenges and successes.