A Perfect Fit

The document discusses the importance of behavioural insights in development aid, highlighting a project in Hola, Kenya, where proposed quality-improving technologies for mango farming failed because farmers prioritised quantity for processing markets over quality for export markets.

• Development interventions often fail or lack coordination because they are designed using top-down policies that operate in isolation from the recipient communities and ignore contextual nuances of human behaviour.
• In Hola, Kenya, there was almost no adoption of technologies designed to reduce mango bruising and cosmetic damage (such as plastic crates and sap removal) because the local economic context prioritises fruit quantity over quality.
• The lack of adoption for quality-improving tools in Hola is driven by poor infrastructure and market access; since most mangoes are sold for processing in Nairobi or Mombasa rather than for export, farmers have little incentive to invest in quality unless road and cold chain infrastructure improve.
• User-led research methodology, which observes behaviour in situ to identify barriers, allows development interventions to be fine-tuned to specific contexts, thereby increasing cost-effectiveness and implementation speed.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2018). A Perfect Fit. https://www.sei.org/features/a-perfect-fit/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. A Perfect Fit. 2018. https://www.sei.org/features/a-perfect-fit/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=A Perfect Fit |date=17 March 2018 |url=https://www.sei.org/features/a-perfect-fit/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2018perfect, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{A Perfect Fit}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/features/a-perfect-fit/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }