Prevention of violence against women and girls: A cost-effectiveness study across 6 low- and middle-income countries
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that community-based interventions designed to change harmful gender norms and social norms around violence are among the most cost-effective strategies for preventing violence against women and girls in low- and middle-income countries. The findings highlight that investing in proven social norms interventions can improve population health, although additional […]
Perspectives of adolescent girls (10-19 years) in Mahama camp on factors affecting accessibility of contraceptive services in the camp in 2022
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and cultural expectations around adolescent sexuality substantially shape adolescent girls’ access to contraception in Mahama refugee camp. Community expectations favor abstinence before marriage and often frame contraception as appropriate only for married women. Girls therefore anticipate shame, gossip, stigma, and being labeled as sexually immoral if seen seeking contraception, discouraging […]
Where shame meets vulnerability: unintended adolescent pregnancy within the cultural context of the rural district of Rwandan Eastern Province.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social and cultural norms surrounding premarital adolescent sexuality, gender, and motherhood shape both the risk and consequences of unintended adolescent pregnancy in rural Rwanda. The discussion emphasizes that norms portraying adolescent sex as immoral and pregnancy as shameful can generate internalized and enacted stigma, silence girls’ sexual agency, reinforce gender and […]
Generalized structural equation modeling of intimate partner violence among married women in East Africa using population-based data.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Attitudes accepting wife beating were strongly associated with all forms of intimate partner violence, pointing to deep-rooted patriarchal norms that can normalize violence within relationships. The discussion also suggests that traditional norms supporting intimate partner violence may contribute to greater sexual violence in rural areas and that women’s employment or increased […]
Discriminatory attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS in East Africa: a multilevel analysis of socioeconomic and behavioral determinants using DHS 2019-2023 data.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Discriminatory attitudes toward people living with HIV remain widespread in East Africa and appear to be shaped by broader socioeconomic and social contexts. Nearly half of the variation in discriminatory attitudes occurred between communities, underscoring that stigma is not solely an individual attitude but is embedded within social environments. The discussion […]
Public Perceptions and Social Norms Influencing Violence Contemplation and Perpetration Against Sexual and Gender Minorities in Rwanda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study shows that social norms—particularly heteronormativity, stigma, and discriminatory community attitudes—play a central role in shaping both the contemplation and perpetration of violence against sexual and gender minorities in Rwanda. Drawing on norm-centered stigma theory, the findings highlight how both descriptive norms (what people perceive others do) and injunctive norms […]
Lessons learned from implementing Indashyikirwa in Rwanda- an adaptation of the SASA! approach to prevent and respond to intimate partner violence
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that harmful social norms in Rwanda—particularly those upholding male authority and the acceptability of violence to discipline women—are central to sustaining IPV. A key takeaway is that social norm change is achievable when interventions like Indashyikirwa create space for couples to redefine respect, power, and gender roles in […]
Effective prevention of intimate partner violence through couples training: a randomised controlled trial of Indashyikirwa in Rwanda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Indashyikirwa’s couples’ training effectively challenged and shifted harmful gender norms by reducing the acceptability of IPV, transforming beliefs around male dominance, and strengthening norms around mutual respect and communication. The programme demonstrated that directly engaging couples can alter relationship dynamics and foster broader social norm change, including promoting community action against […]
The doing and undoing of male household decision-making and economic authority in Rwanda and its implications for gender transformative programming
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This formative research shows that social norms in Rwanda—such as expectations of male authority, the acceptability of wife-beating, and women’s responsibility to endure suffering for the sake of marriage—play a critical role in sustaining IPV. The findings underscore the importance of designing interventions like Indashyikirwa to confront not just individual behaviors […]
Community activism as a strategy to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) in rural Rwanda: Results of a community randomized trial
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The evaluation of Indashyikirwa reveals that efforts to shift social norms around intimate partner violence (IPV) must be deeply grounded in the local context and allowed adequate time to take root. While the intervention was built on a norms-change framework, community-level change did not occur within the study’s timeframe. This highlights […]