The relationship between base of the pyramid families and construction artisans is at the center of the incremental homebuilding process used by most families globally to acquire housing. With little access to formal design services and planning advice, families rely heavily on artisans for guidance in building their home. In turn, these informally trained artisans conform their advice and construction services to decisions families have already made based on their aspirations and purchasing power. In its efforts to expand access to adequate housing by working through housing markets, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter is exploring a range of interventions in the construction labor sector to improve the quality of services offered by artisans to their BoP clients. The Terwilliger Center’s experience has shown that focusing solely on training or certification of workers is insufficient for this task. As such, a major objective of the center’s labor strategy is to explore the incentives necessary to actually change artisan behavior so that they: a) build safer homes; b) provide better service; and c) are more productive so that they earn more income. 

Habitat for Humanity and the Terwilliger Center worked with the University of Notre Dame i-Lab in Mexico and India team to explore practical strategies for identifying and implementing practical behavior change interventions in the construction labor sector, to the ultimate benefit of low-income homebuilders. The team investigated and provided training guidelines for Habitat for Humanity that can be adapted to fit unique cultural or geographical contexts using systems thinking, behavioral economics and psychology, and human-centered design.