IMAGINE Endline Evaluation Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The IMAGINE program demonstrates that interventions targeting adolescent girls’ agency, gender dynamics, and economic empowerment can result in promising shifts in social norms related to family planning and gender roles. Notably, in Bangladesh, the intervention influenced norms around the timing of marriage and childbearing, and in Niger, it fostered greater contraceptive […]
Measuring the effects of the radio drama Impano n’Inpamba: fertility awareness and family planning results
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The evaluation of Impano n’Impamba demonstrates that entertainment-education can be a powerful vehicle for shifting knowledge and initiating dialogue around fertility awareness and family planning. While the drama increased fertility awareness and intermediate outcomes (like self-efficacy and discussion), it did not lead to statistically significant increases in modern contraceptive use. This […]
Girls’ Education South Sudan (GESS) Output 1: Social & Behavioural Change Communication Endline Report – Final Draft
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The evaluation of the Girls’ Education in South Sudan Social and Behavioral Change Communication program reveals that social norms related to girls’ education—particularly attitudes around gender equality, parental support, and the prioritization of boys’ education—can be gradually shifted through targeted radio programming and community engagement. While progress was made in increasing […]
Growing Up GREAT! End of Project Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Growing Up Great! program highlights the importance of targeting deeply rooted social norms that restrict adolescent girls’ bodily autonomy and decision-making power. The evaluation found that while individual knowledge and attitudes improved, sustained gender and power hierarchies in families and communities limited girls’ ability to act on this information. The […]
Growing Up GREAT! Wave 4 Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that shifting knowledge and attitudes among adolescents is not enough to produce lasting change unless efforts also confront the persistent gender norms and power structures embedded in family and community life. Although the Growing Up Great programme increased awareness and fostered more equitable views, especially among girls, entrenched […]
Fostering gender equality and reproductive and sexual health among adolescents: results from a quasi-experimental study in Northern Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study demonstrates that a resource-light, narrative-based intervention can shift gender norms and behaviors when implemented through a life-stage approach. The most significant changes occurred among older adolescents and newly married/parenting youth, suggesting that adolescence and early adulthood are critical windows for gender norm transformation. The intervention succeeded in transforming inequitable […]
Contraceptive Conversations among Adolescent Girls and Young Women and their Partners, Peers, and Older Female Family Members in Lilongwe, Malawi: A Qualitative Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around adolescent sexuality, fertility, and contraceptive use significantly shape contraceptive conversations and decision-making among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Malawi. Unmarried and nulliparous AGYW face the greatest communication barriers due to stigma and cultural expectations that link contraceptive use to promiscuity and nonbarrier methods to infertility. These […]
Communication, Social Norms, and Contraceptive Use among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Lilongwe, Malawi
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study highlights that AGYW are strongly influenced by their social ties — particularly partners and peers — when deciding whether to use non-barrier contraception. Interventions seeking to increase contraceptive use should go beyond delivering information or focusing on approval and instead strengthen peer-to-peer and partner communication and address perceptions of […]
Transforming social norms to improve girl-child health and well-being: a realist evaluation of the Girls’ Holistic Development program in rural Senegal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This evaluation highlights the effectiveness of community-driven, culturally embedded strategies to shift social norms that influence early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and girls’ education. By restoring and elevating grandmothers’ traditional roles, the Girls’ Holistic Development program facilitated intergenerational dialogue, leading to greater social cohesion and community alignment around delaying marriage and supporting […]
Effects of a community-based, multi-level family planning intervention on theoretically grounded intermediate outcomes for couples in rural Uganda: Results from a mixed methods pilot evaluation
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates the power of community-based, gender-transformative dialogue to shift entrenched social norms that hinder contraceptive use among couples in rural Uganda. Using the theory of transformative communication, the intervention successfully challenged norms around gender inequity and large family size by reshaping perceptions of a “successful family” and fostering more […]