USM Starts New Semester with Nearly 5,000 Freshmen
July 27, 2026
KABACAN, COTABATO — The AHA! Behavioral Design, a Metro Manila-based behavioral science agency, led a strategic training-workshop on Social and Behavioral Change (SBC) on July 27, 2026, at the Extension Services Office (ESO) TC Room, gathering University of Southern Mindanao (USM) extensionists and researchers.
The activity aimed at equipping participants with behavioral insights and practical strategies to effectively design, implement, and drive community-level technology and intervention adoption.
In her welcome remarks, Vice President for Research, Development and Extension Dr. Debbie Marie B. Verzosa emphasized the critical role of behavioral science in bridging the gap between scientific innovation and community transformation.
“We need more scientific expertise to transfer scientific knowledge to communities; that’s why we are doing this. Also, we want our research to be directed towards a goal, and that is to help our target communities to adopt sustainable solutions and improve their quality of life,” Dr. Verzosa stated.
The training-workshop featured experts from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and AHA! Behavioral Design. Anchored in the Mindanao Development Agenda, Mr. Sylvester C. Sales facilitated a lecture session on the 10 development areas. This aimed to provide context on future initiatives and efforts by the USM experts. A session on Social and Behavioral Change (SBC) followed, detailing different approaches like Awareness Raising, Community Engagement, Social Mobilization, Service Improvement and Capacity Building, and Advocacy. This was spearheaded by an SBC expert from AHA! BD.
To apply theory into practice, participants were divided into four groups and were tasked with identifying behavioral problems and suggesting actionable behavioral solutions. The training concluded with the teams presenting their outputs, opening discussions on technology and behavior adoption — a relevant aspect for USM extensionists and researchers.
“Alam namin na dapat impactful ‘yung mga research namin kaya kailangan ng needs assessment. On us, the challenge ay kung paano namin ipa-adopt ‘yung mga product ng research namin para mapaunlad ‘yung buhay lalo ng mga farmers,” participant Jayson S. Baltazar stated.
Strategically inviting extensionists and researchers, the training-workshop further strengthened USM’s institutional capacity to align research outcomes with practical, user-centered community adoption. This effort underscored USM’s commitment to empower its personnel to deeply understand the behavioral drivers and barriers that influence target communities in adopting new technologies and practices.
