Using radio programming to reach young adolescents with gender and sexual health information in a low-income urban setting in Kenya.
Key Social Norms Takeaways: Radio-based edutainment can effectively initiate reflection and dialogue around inequitable gender norms among very young adolescents by creating shared spaces for intergenerational discussion. Social norms are shaped not only by individual beliefs but also by family and community interactions; thus, engaging both adolescents and parents is critical. The study emphasizes that […]
Promoting gender equity in a home visits programme: a qualitative study in Northern Nigeria
Key Social Norms Takeaways: Gender norms—particularly those governing division of labour, decision-making, and gender-based violence—are deeply embedded drivers of maternal health outcomes but can be transformed through participatory, household-level interventions that engage both women and men. The study shows that shifting norms requires addressing power dynamics within couples and fostering joint reflection, communication, and shared […]
Empowering Youth Through Evidence: Applying Outcome Harvesting to Evaluate Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Advocacy in Ethiopia.
Key Social Norms Takeaways: Social norms around gender, harmful traditional practices, and youth roles can shift through participatory, youth-led advocacy that engages community gatekeepers such as religious and traditional leaders. The study highlights that changing norms is a non-linear, community-driven process, where empowering youth as visible advocates and decision-makers helps reshape expectations around practices like […]
“I have learned that nothing is given for free”: an exploratory qualitative evaluation of a social norms edutainment intervention broadcast on local radio to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Kigoma, Tanzania.
Key Social Norms Takeaways: Edutainment can initiate shifts in harmful social norms by challenging misperceptions, reducing victim-blaming, and promoting new shared expectations—particularly around gender, responsibility, and transactional sex. However, norms change requires broad community engagement; without sufficient exposure (e.g., among men), entrenched norms persist. The study highlights that norm change begins with individual reflection and […]
Implementation and evaluation of a family planning intervention engaging mothers-in-law of young women in India: a mixed methods pilot study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around early fertility, son preference, and women’s limited autonomy are strongly reinforced by mothers-in-law (MILs) in patriarchal, patrilocal households; however, this study shows that engaging MILs directly can help shift these norms. The discussion highlights that even a light-touch intervention can begin to transform entrenched norms by reframing family […]
Acceptability, Feasibility, and Preliminary Efficacy of Schools Championing Safe South Africa, a Social Norms Intervention to Prevent HIV Risk Behavior and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence Among Teenage Boys.
Key Social Norms Takeaways: Correcting misperceived social norms—particularly adolescents’ overestimation of peers’ risky or harmful behaviors—can reduce sexual violence perpetration in the short term. Peer- and school-based normative feedback is especially influential during adolescence, as social environments strongly shape behavior; however, norms change alone is insufficient without reinforcement and complementary behavior change strategies. Objectives: This […]
Correcting misperceived norms: An integrated intervention to prevent adolescent sexual violence and HIV in South Africa.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Misperceived social norms play a central role in shaping adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors related to sexual violence and HIV risk. Adolescents in this study frequently overestimated peers’ acceptance of harmful behaviors (e.g., sexual violence, rigid gender norms) and underestimated prosocial norms (e.g., willingness to intervene, belief in survivors). These misperceptions create […]
Socio-cultural context of adolescent sexuality and youth friendly service intervention in West Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a qualitative study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study reveals that entrenched socio-cultural and religious norms in Northwest Ethiopia strongly disapprove of premarital sex, discourage adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service use, and inhibit open communication about sexuality between adolescents and adults. While the study does not use formal social norms theory or measurements (e.g., injunctive or […]
USAID Zambia Community HIV Prevention Project (USAID Z-CHPP) Quarterly Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This project intentionally worked to promote protective social norms related to HIV prevention, gender, and sexual health, especially among adolescent girls and young women. It engaged cultural gatekeepers, traditional leaders, and male role models to foster dialogue on beliefs and practices that increase vulnerability to HIV, early pregnancy, and gender-based violence. […]
“Out there it’s YOLO”: Youth perspectives on a mass media HIV- and gender-based violence campaign in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The ZAZI intervention demonstrates that using culturally relevant, multimedia campaigns—such as music videos—can challenge and shift social norms that constrain young women’s agency in South Africa. By positioning young women as active agents in their own narratives and confronting norms around sexual silence, gender inequality, and stigma, the campaign promoted collective […]