Two Sides of Gender: Sex, Power, and Adolescence
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study illustrates the importance of targeting male gender norms and attitudes about intimate partner violence and sexual relationships to improve outcomes for adolescent girls. The soccer-based intervention with boys focused on shifting norms around respect for females, age-appropriate relationships, and consent, aiming to indirectly influence girls’ sexual health by intervening […]
Keeping the Essentials in Place: Lessons Learned from a Qualitative Study of DREAMS in Northern Uganda.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Programs aiming to shift entrenched gender norms must invest in facilitators’ own transformation and ensure implementation stays true to evidence-based designs. Without careful attention, interventions risk reinforcing rather than challenging norms that sustain GBV. Funders should allow time for piloting and local adaptation to maximize transformative impact. Objectives: The study aimed […]
Community Radio Program to Improve the Health of Women and Children
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Kwishilya and Siñalamba radio serial dramas (RSDs) in Zambia show that entertainment-education can shift social norms around family planning, gender roles, and reproductive health. Regular listeners were more likely to perceive community and partner approval for contraceptive use and reported greater self-efficacy in negotiating reproductive decisions. The intervention helped normalize […]
Effects of digital chatbot on gender attitudes and exposure to intimate partner violence among young women in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that digital, behaviorally informed interventions can influence deeply rooted gender norms at scale. It is one of the first randomized trials to show that a chatbot can both improve gender attitudes and reduce intimate partner violence exposure among young women. The findings expand the evidence base on how […]
Changing the River’s Flow – A Gender Transformative Programme for Young People (CTRF4YP)
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This evaluation demonstrates that gender-transformative, community-based interventions can catalyze shifts in deeply embedded norms around gender roles, violence, and sexual relationships. The intervention’s focus on community dialogue and inclusion of both men and women led to increased openness in discussing gender-based violence, reduced stigma around survivors, and new expectations around spousal […]
Evaluation of Biruh Tesfa (Bright Future) for All: A program for out-of-school girls, migrants, and domestic workers in low-income Ethiopian cities
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights the importance of shifting social norms around education, gender roles, and child protection to improve outcomes for highly vulnerable urban girls in Ethiopia. Biruh Tesfa effectively engaged communities to increase girls’ school attendance and reduce harmful practices, especially around early marriage and household labor expectations. It shows that […]