The CLIMB Cards

Inspiring Change for Children Using Behavioral Insights

Convenient

Seven insights to make behaviors seamless and automatic.

Friction | Mental Load | Status Quo Bias | Default | Fluency Shortcut | One Step at a Time | Subtract

Around the world, organizations work tirelessly to improve outcomes for children and families. Yet even well-designed programs can fall short when they overlook a fundamental reality: human behavior is complex. People do not always act on information alone. Decisions are shaped by emotions, habits, social influences, cognitive overload, and the environments around us.

The CLIMB Cards were created to make behavioral science practical, accessible, and actionable for child-focused programming.  

This 30-card toolkit helps teams identify behavioral barriers, generate creative solutions, and design interventions that better reflect how people actually live, think, and make decisions. Built around five behavioral principles — Convenient, Lasting, Intriguing, Mobilizing, and Blueprinted — the cards support collaborative problem-solving across sectors and contexts.

Lasting

Four insights to help behaviors stick over time.

Spacing Effect | Reminders | Habit Stacking | Feedback Loops

Intriguing

Seven insights to capture attention, raise motivation, and make the behavior more alluring.

Salience | Present Bias | Humor Effect | Incentive | Messenger Effect | Personalization | Framing

Mobilizing

Seven insights to leverage social influences to bring about changes in collective behaviors and community norms.

Diffusion of Responsibility | Empathy Gap | Social Norms | Social Proof | Reciprocity | Endowment Effect | Collective Effervescence

Blueprinted

Five insights to structure the new behavior with a clear pathway.

Goal Setting | If-then Plans | Public Commitment | Checklist | Deadlines

What makes the CLIMB cards unique?

  • Accessible to everyone

    Easy to read, understand, and apply. Tailor the level of complexity to your audience.

  • Collaborative by design

    Helps groups of stakeholders think differently and generate solutions together using a common framework.

  • Low-cost solutions

    Small changes in words, context, timing, and planning can make a big difference without large budgets.

  • Flexible across the program cycle

    Use them at the start to design programs or mid-way to solve behavioral bottlenecks.

  • Relevant to any sector

    Applicable across ECCD, health, education, nutrition, protection, parenting, climate change, emergencies, and more.

  • Globally grounded

    Examples drawn almost entirely from low and middle-income countries across every continent, covering both independent use and CLIMB workshops.

Ready to bring behavioral insights into your work? Order the CLIMB Cards as a physical deck.

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Download the PDFs of the CLIMB Cards

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