Do Community-Based Livelihood Interventions Affect Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People in Slum Areas of Uganda: A Difference-in-Difference with Kernel Propensity Score Matching Analysis
Key Social Norms Take-aways: While the intervention did not explicitly use social norms theory, it provides clear evidence of injunctive norms—what individuals believe others expect—related to gender, sexual behavior, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Survey items captured expectations around sexual agency, gender-based violence, and contraceptive responsibility. The intervention led to a decline […]
Gaining traction: Promising shifts in gender norms and intimate partner violence in the context of a community-based HIV prevention trial in South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that community mobilization efforts that target harmful gender norms—such as male dominance, IPV tolerance, and communication taboos—can lead to measurable shifts in attitudes, behaviors, and relationship dynamics. Norms change was facilitated by improved access to gender-equitable messages through media, and greater openness in couple communication, helping to reshape […]
Shifting gender norms to improve HIV service uptake: Qualitative findings from a large-scale community mobilization intervention in rural South Africa
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms around HIV testing and treatment—particularly those tied to stigma, secrecy, and gendered power—are significant barriers to service uptake for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in South Africa. The Tsima intervention showed that transforming these norms—by promoting open communication, supportive male involvement, and reframing testing as a collective responsibility—can […]
Impact of Tipping Point Initiative, a social norms intervention, in addressing child marriage and other adolescent health and behavioral outcomes in a northern district of Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This impact evaluation explicitly examines how CARE’s Tipping Point program influenced injunctive and descriptive norms related to gender, marriage, and adolescent girls’ rights in rural Bangladesh. The study used a dedicated norms module to assess what adolescents and adults perceive others expect of them (injunctive norms) and what they believe others […]
‘Poverty can break a home’: Exploring mechanisms linking cash plus programming and intimate partner violence in Ghana
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights how deeply entrenched gender norms around male authority, women’s subservience, and family roles shape both the occurrence and acceptability of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ghana. While the LEAP 1000 cash-plus program reduced IPV through economic security, conflict reduction, and women’s empowerment, the normative context—particularly around gender roles […]
Qualitative endline results of the tipping point project to prevent child, early and forced marriage in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Organized diffusion is essential for shifting social norms around intimate partner violence (IPV). This study demonstrates that interpersonal diffusion of anti-violence messaging can lead to meaningful change, particularly in communities with less equitable baseline norms. Social networks play a central role in facilitating this change, highlighting the importance of targeting interventions […]
Delaying child marriage through community-based skills-development programs for girls: Results from a randomized controlled study in rural Bangladesh
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Although the study does not use formal social norms theory or measure norms directly, it clearly identifies normative influences—especially community expectations and social pressures—as key drivers of early marriage. In the background, the authors frame child marriage as shaped by family concerns about reputation, girls’ perceived readiness for adult roles, and […]
Effects of a violence prevention intervention in schools and surrounding communities: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomized-controlled trial in Uganda
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Good School Toolkit intervention effectively shifted social norms surrounding physical discipline both in schools and in surrounding communities. The study found strong reductions in caregivers’ acceptance of physical violence at school and at home, indicating that school-based interventions can catalyze wider normative change. However, changes in actual violence practices at […]
A radio drama’s effects on attitudes toward early and forced marriage: Results from a field experiment in Rural Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study examines how entertainment-education can shift attitudes and perceived social norms related to early and forced marriage. Although it does not use formal social norms measurement tools, it assesses perceived descriptive norms (what others do) and injunctive norms (what others approve of) through attitudinal questions about peer and family expectations. […]
Exploring young women’s reproductive decision-making, agency and social norms in South African informal settlements
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that focusing solely on individual agency overlooks the powerful role of social norms — particularly the expectation that young women should prove their fertility early. Programs aiming to reduce early, unplanned pregnancies must challenge these community and family pressures, while also supporting women’s increasing desire for reproductive control […]