Impact of DREAMS interventions on attitudes towards gender norms among adolescent girls and young women: Findings from a prospective cohort in Kenya.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: While DREAMS aimed to shift gender norms as part of its comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, the study found limited evidence that DREAMS invitation impacted individual attitudes toward gender norms among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Kenya. Equitable attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health (SRH) decision-making were already high, limiting […]
“Household Debt and Relation to Intimate Partner Violence and Husbands’ Attitudes Toward Gender Norms: A Study Among Young Married Couples in Rural Maharashtra, India”
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around male dominance, control, and justification of violence play a crucial role in how economic stress like debt translates into IPV. Interventions targeting IPV need to include men and address both financial stress and the underlying gender beliefs that fuel violence. Economic programs focused only on women may miss […]
Preventing violence against refugee adolescent girls: findings from a cluster randomized controlled trial in Ethiopia
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The COMPASS intervention in Ethiopian refugee camps influenced social norms around gender, education, marriage, and social support, even though it did not significantly reduce violence within the 12-month evaluation period. Girls in the intervention reported more gender-equitable beliefs regarding education, marriage age, and childbearing, and had stronger social networks. These shifts […]
Preventing violence against women and girls in Bihar: challenges for implementation and evaluation
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Do Kadam Barabari Ki Ore program demonstrated that interventions embedded within government platforms can begin to shift social norms around gender and violence, particularly when tailored to participants’ interests and accompanied by trusted community figures. Notably, efforts to build women’s agency, change male attitudes about masculinity, and equip community leaders […]
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 […]
The Communities Care programme: changing social norms to end violence against women and girls in conflict-affected communities
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This article offers important preliminary insights into how social norms around violence against women and girls can begin to shift in conflict-affected settings. While full evaluation data were not yet available, early findings from the Communities Care program suggest that participatory, community-driven dialogue processes can open space for challenging norms related […]
Changing Social Norms: the Importance of “Organized Diffusion” for Scaling Up Community Health Promotion and Women Empowerment Interventions.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This article highlights the importance of “organized diffusion”—the process by which intervention participants intentionally share what they have learned with others in their networks—as a cost-effective strategy for promoting social norms change. Organized diffusion can amplify the reach and sustainability of community-based interventions by transforming both personal attitudes and collective norms, […]
Community mobilization to modify harmful gender norms and reduce HIV risk: results from a community cluster randomized trial in South Africa.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that community mobilization (CM) can shift harmful gender norms among men, creating more supportive social environments for HIV prevention. However, changing norms did not immediately translate into reductions in risk behaviors, highlighting the complexity of transforming norms into action. The findings suggest that norm change may precede behavioral […]
Assessing the impact of CHARM2, a family planning program on gender attitudes, intimate partner violence, reproductive coercion, and marital quality in India
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The CHARM2 intervention demonstrates that structured, gender-synchronized counseling with both men and women can improve attitudes toward gender equality and reduce social acceptance of intimate partner violence in patriarchal settings. However, despite shifts in normative attitudes, behavior change such as reductions in intimate partner violence or reproductive coercion may require more […]
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 […]