B4Development

Our legacy planning is already inspiring innovative research methods and pioneering disciplines in the region – well before the first FIFA World Cup™ in the Middle East kicks off.

A new trend is using insights from behavioural economics and psychology to gently 'nudge' people towards better choices. Governments around the world have found that this can improve outcomes for themselves and their societies.

The concept of creating behavioural insights units is increasingly being used to improve services and foster healthier and happier communities.

Founded by the SC as the Qatar Behavioural Insights Unit (QBIU) in 2016, B4Development was officially incorporated as a foundation under the Qatar Financial Centre in 2019. This has broadened its global mandate to promote and replicate its nudge work and model around the world.

B4Development has partnered with the Qatar Academy for Science and Technology (QAST) on a pioneering behavioural economics course for secondary school students. The course provided a unique platform for students to learn about behavioural economics principles that align with the Qatar National Vision 2030.

B4Development

They also rolled out a new mentorship programme with Nudge Lebanon to train staff to run experiments of their own. B4Development partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for this initiative.

In 2020, B4Development embarked on more complex policy challenges, notably around mental health, COVID-related behaviours and violent extremism. In July 2020, they carried out a knowledge attitudes and practices survey with the Ministry of Public Health to complement the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak response in Qatar and to better inform national communication efforts.

As the use of behavioural insights increases around the globe, B4Development continues to build its capacity and facilities to benefit government agencies around the region.