Key Social Norms Take-aways This study demonstrates that gender-transformative social protection programs can positively influence adolescents’ gender attitudes, but such impacts are not uniformly experienced across genders. While the intervention fostered more equitable gender norms among adolescent boys—particularly regarding domestic chores, violence, and sexual relationships—girls showed no measurable improvement. This suggests that girls may face deeper, more entrenched normative constraints that make attitudinal shifts harder, even when exposed to the same training. The study underscores the importance of early and targeted interventions and highlights that shifting social norms requires not only curriculum content but also addressing broader structural and relational barriers.
Objectives The study evaluated the impact of a government-led, adolescent-focused “cash plus” intervention (Ujana Salama) on gender-equitable attitudes among 14- to 19-year-olds in rural Tanzania. It aimed to determine whether the program improved attitudes toward gender roles and whether effects varied by gender and sexual experience.
Methods A cluster randomized control trial design was used, involving 130 villages randomized into treatment and control arms. A total of 1,933 adolescents were surveyed at baseline (2017), midline (2018), and endline (2019). Gender attitudes were measured using the 24-item Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) scale across four domains: violence, sexual relationships, reproductive health, and domestic chores. Analysis of covariance was employed to estimate intent-to-treat effects, adjusting for baseline characteristics.
Intervention Details Ujana Salama, implemented from 2018 to 2019, supplemented Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net with adolescent-targeted programming. The intervention included 12 weeks of life skills and livelihoods training (covering gender norms, SRH, and HIV), followed by nine months of mentoring and an $80 grant for business or education. Trainings were delivered in group settings by community mentors and reinforced through peer support, with additional links to adolescent-friendly health services.
Results The intervention improved overall gender-equitable attitudes at midline but not at endline. Notably, it significantly improved attitudes in the domestic chores subscale at both time points. Impacts were observed primarily among boys—especially those who had not debuted sexually at baseline—and were strongest soon after the intervention. Girls showed no statistically significant changes in attitudes across any domains.
Conclusions The study concludes that integrated adolescent-focused interventions can improve gender attitudes, particularly among boys, when layered onto existing social protection platforms. However, interventions may need to be specifically tailored to address the more rigid normative constraints faced by girls. Future programming should explore how to better engage adolescent girls and reinforce behavioral change, while leveraging the scalability and sustainability offered by government-embedded delivery platforms.