Structure

• Introduction – Major hurdle in the success of government policy is lack of people participation- explain in few words.
• How attitude and behaviour are the major determinants of outcomes of policies
• How public policies need to target behaviour changes. Illustrate with an example
• Conclusion – add various suggestions as to how this will bring about a change Content

Supporting points:

Influencing behaviour and attitude have long been used in range of traditional policy tools, including legislation, sanctions, regulations, taxes and subsidies, the provision of public services and information to modify behaviour & Attitude in the public interest.

The current environment is becoming more challenging and policy problems where influencing human behaviour is very complex and the effectiveness of traditional approaches may be limited without some additional tools and understanding of how to engage citizens in cooperative behavioural change.

It has become increasingly clear that a major barrier to governments ‘delivering’ key policy outcomes is a disengaged and passive public.

In the areas of welfare, health, crime, employment, education and the environment, achieving significant progress requires the active involvement and cooperation of citizens. The rapid rate of growth in obesity, for example, is a complex and serious social health problem. Successfully addressing obesity depends significantly on the motivation and behaviour of individuals and only modestly on the quality of secondary health care.

Importance of behaviour and attitudinal change:  

It can confer economic, social and community benefits.

• Individuals do not always behave in their own or the community’s best interests. There are many examples of this in the areas of public health (e.g. obesity and tobacco use) and in the environmental area (e.g. recycling and water use).
• Some behaviours are simply undesirable and need to be prevented. Crime is one such example.
• Government cannot solve complex problems alone- There is a growing range of complex policy areas, so-called ‘wicked’ problems, where it has become increasingly clear that government cannot simply ‘deliver’ key policy outcomes to a disengaged and passive public. In the areas of welfare, health, crime, employment, education and the environment, it is clear that achieving significant progress requires the active involvement and cooperation of citizens. Ex: Cleanliness programme will not be successful without behaviour and attitudinal change. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan involves components to change attitude and behaviours.

• Water resources. The sustainability of water resources for agricultural, industrial and domestic use is under serious pressure. How to balance competing interests and ensure adequate supplies are hotly contested issues. The water-using behaviour of citizens and organisations is of key importance.
• Obesity. This is a complex and serious social health problem with multiple factors contributing to its rapid rate of growth over recent decades. How to successfully address obesity is subject to debate, but depends significantly on the motivation and behaviour of individuals and only modestly on the quality of secondary health care.
• Improving cost-effectiveness: Detailed cost-benefit analyses in a number of key areas of public policy, such as health and crime, have shown that behaviour-based interventions can be very much more cost-effective than traditional approaches to policy and service delivery. This is particularly the case if a longer- term time frame is taken to evaluate the constraints, costs and benefits.
• citizenry that actively cooperates to achieve key policy goals can:

• enable society to function with a less coercive regulatory and judicial system
• enable public goods and services to be provided with a lower tax burden
• enhance the quality of life of the whole community.
• If citizens display greater restraint and understand the impact their behaviours have on themselves, their family and the environment, this can actively improve the social capital of communities.