BOOST, a UNDP-led regional acceleration programme for impact innovation, announced that the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), also known as The Nudge Unit, will join the BOOST: Women Innovators programme.
The programme supports women-led startups and nonprofits to accelerate their innovative ideas, leveraging the power of technology to address gender inequalities and boost opportunities for women and girls in Europe and Central Asia.
Created in 2010, BIT pioneered the application of insights from the behavioural sciences to inform policy, improve services and deliver positive results for people and communities. BIT has conducted over 1,000 projects in 75 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, and has collaborated with multilateral organizations, governments, civil society organizations, for-profit companies and academic institutions across complex contexts and policy areas including gender, inclusion and entrepreneurship.
Behavioural science refers to an evidence-based understanding of how people behave, make decisions, and respond to information. As stated by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, behavioural science is a critical tool to drive impact towards the Sustainable Development Goals – it can contribute to combating poverty, improving public health and safety, promoting gender equality, and strengthening peacebuilding.
BIT has been brought in to boost the participants’ understanding of behavioural science and how it can be applied to the real-world challenges to drive impact. During a series of training and mentoring sessions, the BOOST: Women Innovators cohort of 52 organizations (startups, nonprofits and academic institutions) is exploring behavioural approaches and learning how to leverage behavioural insights in their research, project/service design and communications. The ultimate objective is to increase the effectiveness of the BOOST participants’ high-impact innovations.
“The BOOST acceleration programme has been so inspiring to work on. From the energy of all the participants and calibre of questions, it’s clear that this cohort is heavily driven by social impact. They are eager for novel progressive and rigorous methods to make sure their solutions are as well designed as they can be. We can’t wait to see how they use these trainings to strengthen the use of behavioural insights in their program designs and day-to-day operations,” says BIT.
The BOOST platform is made possible through the generous support from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, and Koç Holding.
For further information contact:
Svetla Baeva, svetla.baeva@undp.org
Richard O’Brien, Richard.OBrien@bi.team
Aisling Colclough, Aisling.Colclough@bi.team
About information:
BOOST
BOOST is a regional acceleration program for sustainable impact innovation, powered by UNDP Europe and Central Asia. Initially launched in 2020 in response to the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, BOOST seeks to boost social innovators across the region to accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Behavioural Insights Team
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) is one of the world’s leading behavioural science consultancies, working around the world to improve people’s lives.
Through its teams in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and France, BIT works in partnership with governments, local authorities, businesses and NGOs in over 30 countries, often using simple changes to tackle major policy problems and deliver improved public services and social outcomes.
BIT was established by the UK government in 2010. In 2014 it became an independent social purpose company, part owned by the Cabinet Office and innovation charity Nesta, and since 2021 has been entirely owned by Nesta.For more information on our work and our team visit www.bi.team and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Medium.
