20 CSO Representatives Join the Second Round of Our weiter_wirken Programme

To accelerate the sustainable transformation but also ensure that it is equitable and inclusive, behavioural knowledge is a valuable asset. Yet civil society organisations (CSOs) often lack access to knowledge and tools for behavioural change. For the second time in a row, our programme weiter_wirken offers representatives of civil society organisations the opportunity to learn about and use behavioural science knowledge to support their work.

In April 2022, 20 CSO representatives from sustainability and One World projects in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) met for a first face-to-face workshop to discuss how to facilitate and enable behaviour change for more sustainability. In this first module, Rosa Strube, head of the CSCP Sustainable Lifestyles Team, presented the current state-of-the-art in behaviour change and communication research in the field of sustainability and emphasised the importance of knowing the target group. The group brought their own project ideas – from biodiversity to fair trade, development policy or food system change – and had the opportunity to specify the behaviours they are targeting.

Participants will tackle these topics from different perspectives in 4 workshops during the 3-month duration of this round of weiter_wirken.

The workshops, a mix of online and face-to-face meetings, will cover the following topics:

• Insights and theories from behaviour change and communication sciences in the context of sustainable behaviour change.
• The importance of understanding your target group when planning projects and how to achieve this
• Models, tools and interventions that can be used to promote sustainable behaviour
• Guidance and advice on how to successfully implement a pilot intervention and evaluate it.

The programme goes beyond these topics by facilitating networking and offering two additional voluntary thematic online meetings on sustainability communication and outreach. In addition to the workshops, participants meet in thematic groups of 4-6 people to incorporate the new knowledge gained into their project activities.

weiter_wirken is a cooperation project between the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), ecosign / Akademie für Gestaltung and the Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung Nordrhein-Westfalen.

For further questions, please contact Jennifer Wiegard.