11. How to change Culture?

The Behaviour Change Wheel. Reprinted from “The behaviour change wheel: a new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions”, by S. Michie, M.M. Van Stralen & R. West, 2011, Implementation science, 42, p. 7.

Behaviour Change for Gender Equality

The Behaviour Change Wheel as a tool for implementing action during Participatory Action Research processes.

The other day I was rereading Savin-Baden & Wimpenny's (2007) article about the challenges and opportunities of Participatory Action Research (PAR) which was discussed in detail in blog post eight. When it talked about the implementation of actions developed through the PAR-process, it argued that this implementation may take some time since it usually implies a change of participants' behaviour. However, time is costly and behaviour change is not something that 'just' happens. For another module called 'Behaviour Change: An Interdisciplinary Approach', I was introduced to the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). The BCW is a tool to help the design and evaluation process of behaviour change interventions. By discussing the BCW in this blog post I do not want to advocate for bottom-up behaviour change interventions to enhance gender equality during a community-based PAR-process with African communities. However, the BCW does have potential for policy making on for example regional and national levels. However, the core of the BCW shows the sources of behaviour; motivation, opportunity and capability (Michie et al., 2011; Michie et al., 2014). I see potential for a more effective implementation of actions identified by a PAR-process, when these three sources of behaviour are understood and considered. Below I will outline some example questions which participants and researchers could try to answer during a PAR-process, which relate to water and gender in Africa.  

1. Motivation: How does an individual's mentality and personality motivate behavioural differences/similarities between women and men when it comes to water collection/ water management?

2. Opportunity: Which socio-cultural and economical aspects motivate behavioural differences/similarities between women and men when it comes to water collection/ water management? And what is the role of power relations in shaping these behavioural differences/similarities?

3. Capability: What are women's and men's psychological and physical capacities to collect water/ to be responsible for water management/ which define gender roles?

By asking questions like the questions proposed above, the core of a society's current situation and related behaviours regarding water and gender could be better understood. A PAR-process is ultimately about putting on cultural glasses and changing its 'filter' through implementing actions and changing behaviour; it is not about what you see, but about what you perceive.