Results from a cluster-randomized trial to evaluate a microfinance and peer health leadership intervention to prevent HIV and intimate partner violence among social networks of Tanzanian men.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study shows that shifting men’s attitudes around gender norms is possible through peer-led interventions, but changing behaviors tied to power, masculinity, and violence demands deeper, sustained engagement. Effective interventions must focus not only on individual beliefs but also on the community and relational dynamics that reinforce harmful practices. Objectives: This […]
Effect of community-based voluntary counselling and testing on HIV incidence and social and behavioural outcomes (NIMH Project Accept; HPTN 043): a cluster-randomised trial.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that community-based voluntary counseling and testing (CBVCT) interventions can positively influence social norms around HIV testing. Community mobilization led to more favorable attitudes toward testing, particularly among men, by reducing stigma and encouraging open discussion. While stigma reduction was limited—possibly due to low baseline levels—the intervention succeeded in […]
Designing for two: How enhancing human-centered design with behavioral nudges unlocked breakthroughs to promote young women’s psychological safety and access to reproductive care in Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Malkia Klabu intervention in Tanzania demonstrates how social norms that stigmatize adolescent girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) can be strategically shifted through context-sensitive, peer-driven, and incentive-based approaches. The program capitalized on AGYW’s peer networks to normalize SRH-seeking behaviors, reduce gatekeeping by shopkeepers, and foster a sense of […]
Age and Agency: Evidence from a Women’s Empowerment Program in Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that community-level social norms around child marriage—specifically, the average perceived appropriate age of marriage and norms around girls’ education and labor—significantly influence individual girls’ marriage expectations and transitions. Norms function both through collective expectations and the behavior of others in the community, reinforcing early marriage in contexts where […]
The impact of an intervention to prevent intimate partner violence against women in Tanzania: findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised controlled trial
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides strong evidence that adolescent girls’ perceptions of gendered social norms—particularly around marriage and education—are predictive of their expectations for their own futures. Norms around when girls should marry, whether education is valuable for them, and whether they are expected to work or stay home shape their aspirations and […]
A mixed-methods, exploratory, quasi-experimental evaluation of a radio drama intervention to prevent age-disparate transactional sex in Tanzania.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The LINEA radio drama intervention demonstrates promising potential to shift gender-related attitudes, beliefs, and social norms around age-disparate transactional sex (ADTS) in Tanzania. The qualitative findings reveal early signs of social norms change, particularly in reducing victim-blaming attitudes and shifting responsibility from adolescent girls to adult men and communities. The drama […]
The effectiveness of documentary films to reduce violence against women: Experimental evidence from Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that documentary films portraying severe violence may unintentionally suppress reporting of domestic violence and fail to shift harmful social norms. In deeply entrenched normative contexts, such media may reinforce feelings of isolation or irrelevance among viewers, highlighting the importance of both content and delivery format in social norm […]
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 […]
The DREAMS core package of interventions: A comprehensive approach to preventing HIV among adolescent girls and young women
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The DREAMS initiative highlights how shifting harmful gender norms—particularly those that disempower adolescent girls and young women and condone gender-based violence—is essential for reducing HIV risk. The program uses community mobilization and engagement of male partners and leaders to transform norms around gender, sexuality, and power dynamics. Safe spaces and mentor-led […]
You are looked upon as a luxury tool: Young Tanzanian women’s perception of community norms supporting partner violence during transactional sex
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The article highlights that harmful gender norms — including the normalization of male control and violence, the double standards around women’s sexuality, and the stigma against transactional sex — underpin women’s vulnerability in kudanga relationships. Addressing these social norms through community-wide engagement, shifting gender power dynamics, and reducing stigma is essential […]