Busara is a research and consulting firm that applies behavioral science in its research to alleviate poverty in the global south. We work with civil society organizations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to drive civic engagement in their work through effective messaging. We collaborate with partners to enhance their capacity to conduct research and communicate effectively with the intended audience through our research and capacity strengthening initiatives. We intend to bridge the gap between applied behavioral science research and civil society practitioners’ strategies and interventions for better citizen engagement outcomes.  Our aim is to support CSOs to apply evidence, experimentation and innovation through behavioral science in order to better motivate and mobilize the communities and contexts they serve. 

In the last 8 years, we have supported about 50 CSO’s in the region to explore ways in which insights and methods from behavioral science can enhance their activities and effectiveness of their work in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. We leverage on the Low-Cost Message Testing Guide to provide CSOs with tools and technical support to design, test and scale communications campaigns with the target audience (and their behaviour) in mind to attain behaviour change. Our capacity strengethening initiatives has focused on aspects such as: