Étude des effets de l’intervention de l’École des Maris sur les dynamiques de genre pour améliorer la santé reproductive au Niger
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This report explores the deeply rooted norms in Niger that limit women’s autonomy, particularly in decision-making around marriage, reproduction, and economic participation. Although there are many burdens associated with early and forced marriage, social norms and gender roles continue to pressure girls into early unions. Notably, while some community actors advocate […]
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 […]
HIV/STI Risk-Reduction Intervention Efficacy with South African Adolescents Over 54 Months
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides compelling evidence that early, theory-based HIV/STI risk-reduction interventions can foster lasting shifts in sexual behaviors and the psychosocial drivers of behavior among South African adolescents. While not explicitly framed around social norms, the intervention indirectly influenced normative beliefs—particularly perceptions of parental approval and sexual negotiation self-efficacy—highlighting how targeting […]
An Entertainment-Education Initiative on Television A glimpse into production process
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The evaluation of Kyunki… Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai illustrates that long-running entertainment-education programs can contribute to shifts in social norms and health behaviors at scale, particularly when built on a robust theoretical foundation and broadcast consistently over time. The show significantly influenced collective perceptions around key reproductive, maternal, newborn, and […]
A Pilot RCT Evaluating InThistoGether, an mHealth HIV Prevention Program for Ugandan Youth
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Although not explicitly designed to address social norms, the InThistoGether (ITG) intervention engages with implicit normative beliefs around condom use, sexual behavior, and HIV testing among Ugandan youth. By promoting sex-positive messaging and normalizing discussions of condom use and HIV prevention through daily texts, the intervention subtly challenges stigma and harmful […]
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 […]
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 […]
Findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of a multi-level adolescent and youth reproductive and maternal health intervention in Karnali Province, Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Healthy Transitions intervention demonstrated that gender-transformative programming at multiple socio-ecological levels can shift deeply rooted norms around early marriage, fertility, and gender roles. While notable progress was made in improving AGYW’s gender-equitable attitudes and family support for delaying marriage and childbearing, persistent social norms—such as son preference and stigma around […]