Do Community-Based Livelihood Interventions Affect Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People in Slum Areas of Uganda: A Difference-in-Difference with Kernel Propensity Score Matching Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: While the intervention did not explicitly use social norms theory, it provides clear evidence of injunctive norms—what individuals believe others expect—related to gender, sexual behavior, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Survey items captured expectations around sexual agency, gender-based violence, and contraceptive responsibility. The intervention led to a decline […]
Evaluation of RISE II Integrated Social and Behavior Change Activities in Niger: Baseline Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This baseline study highlights the pervasiveness of social norms that reinforce early and forced marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), and limited reproductive autonomy among adolescent girls in Niger. Norms around family honor, male decision-making authority, and expectations for girls to marry and bear children early are deeply entrenched. The study underscores that […]
How is media content and outreach supporting young Zambians to make sexual and reproductive health decisions?
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Tikambe’s multi-platform approach—combining media content with peer-led outreach—successfully engaged with harmful gender and social norms around adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Zambia. While the project did not explicitly use formal social norms theory, it clearly targeted perceived social expectations around decision-making, contraceptive use, and parent–child communication. These […]
Gaining traction: Promising shifts in gender norms and intimate partner violence in the context of a community-based HIV prevention trial in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that community mobilization efforts that target harmful gender norms—such as male dominance, IPV tolerance, and communication taboos—can lead to measurable shifts in attitudes, behaviors, and relationship dynamics. Norms change was facilitated by improved access to gender-equitable messages through media, and greater openness in couple communication, helping to reshape […]
Shifting gender norms to improve HIV service uptake: Qualitative findings from a large-scale community mobilization intervention in rural South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around HIV testing and treatment—particularly those tied to stigma, secrecy, and gendered power—are significant barriers to service uptake for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa. The Tsima intervention showed that transforming these norms—by promoting open communication, supportive male involvement, and reframing testing as a collective responsibility—can […]
The Cultural Context of Child Marriage in Nepal and Bangladesh: Findings from CARE’s Tipping Point Project Community Participatory Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: CARE’s Tipping Point project reveals that deeply entrenched social norms—particularly those around female obedience, sexual purity, family honor, and the marriageability of girls—are among the most powerful forces driving child marriage in Bangladesh and Nepal. Parents often privately support delaying marriage but conform to perceived community expectations due to fear of […]
Impact of Tipping Point Initiative, a social norms intervention, in addressing child marriage and other adolescent health and behavioral outcomes in a northern district of Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This impact evaluation explicitly examines how CARE’s Tipping Point program influenced injunctive and descriptive norms related to gender, marriage, and adolescent girls’ rights in rural Bangladesh. The study used a dedicated norms module to assess what adolescents and adults perceive others expect of them (injunctive norms) and what they believe others […]
Tipping Point Project: Report of the baseline study findings from Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This baseline study explicitly measures and analyzes both injunctive and descriptive norms across domains related to adolescent girls’ mobility, marriage, education, and decision-making in rural Bangladesh. The study defines and operationalizes social norms using structured survey items, capturing what respondents believe others expect of them (injunctive norms) and what they believe […]
Findings of an evaluation of community and school-based reproductive health and HIV prevention programs in Kenya
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides strong evidence that addressing perceived social expectations can reduce the acceptability and prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). While the intervention did not explicitly state they were measuring injunctive norms, the survey included items on perceived community approval, religious endorsement, and social pressure—core elements of injunctive norms. The […]
‘Poverty can break a home’: Exploring mechanisms linking cash plus programming and intimate partner violence in Ghana
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights how deeply entrenched gender norms around male authority, women’s subservience, and family roles shape both the occurrence and acceptability of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ghana. While the LEAP 1000 cash-plus program reduced IPV through economic security, conflict reduction, and women’s empowerment, the normative context—particularly around gender roles […]