Changing the River’s Flow – A Gender Transformative Programme for Young People (CTRF4YP)
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This evaluation demonstrates that gender-transformative, community-based interventions can catalyze shifts in deeply embedded norms around gender roles, violence, and sexual relationships. The intervention’s focus on community dialogue and inclusion of both men and women led to increased openness in discussing gender-based violence, reduced stigma around survivors, and new expectations around spousal […]
Diffusion in social norms change about violence against women: A longitudinal analysis of intervention data from a cluster randomised trial.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights the critical role of organized diffusion in shifting social norms related to intimate partner violence. The findings suggest that diffusion is particularly effective in communities with lower baseline levels of gender equity, where greater normative change is possible. By facilitating interpersonal discussions of intervention messages, the program challenged […]
The Influence of Organised Diffusion on Social Norms Change: Addressing Intimate Partner Violence in Nepal
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides compelling evidence that organized diffusion can effectively promote social norms change around intimate partner violence in contexts where such violence is widely accepted. The intervention successfully disrupted harmful norms by facilitating the sharing of new attitudes and behaviors across social networks. Changes in gender roles, spousal communication, and […]
Can Media Campaigns Change Attitudes and Spark Actions to Reduce Early Child Marriage? Impact Evaluation of Breakthrough’s Early Marriage Campaign in Jharkhand and Bihar States of India. Grantee Final Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The study reveals that norms supporting early marriage and rigid gender roles can shift through media-driven and community-based engagement. Breakthrough’s mass media campaigns challenged the normalization of child marriage, while training and community mobilization helped reinforce critical reflection on gender norms. The intervention encouraged more equitable attitudes among adolescents and adults, […]
Understanding family planning outcomes in northwestern Nigeria: analysis and modeling of social and behavior change factors
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Social norms supporting high fertility, male-dominated decision-making, and contraceptive myths strongly shape family planning behaviors in this setting. Interventions must go beyond individual-level change to also address relational dynamics, especially fostering joint decision-making and male engagement, and create enabling environments that support women’s autonomy and challenge entrenched gender roles. Objectives: This […]
Transforming gender norms through life-skills programming in rural Ethiopia: short-term impacts and emerging lessons for adaptive programming: Oromia case study
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Act With Her-Ethiopia program in Oromia demonstrated that gender-transformative life skills education can improve girls’ voice and agency, parent–adolescent communication, and knowledge around menstruation and violence. However, the program revealed limited or even negative short-term impacts on attitudes toward gender equality, indicating that shifting entrenched norms—particularly among boys and communities—requires […]
What Influences Girls’ Age at Marriage in Burkina Faso and Tanzania? Exploring the Contribution of Individual, Household, and Community Level Factors
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study underscores how social norms—particularly community expectations regarding girls’ age at marriage and parental fears of premarital sex—play a significant role in shaping the prevalence of child marriage, with notable variation by context. In Burkina Faso, social norms among fathers regarding later marriage were significantly associated with lower child marriage […]
Understanding how social norms affect modern contraceptive use
Key Social Norms Take-aways: A critical social norms insight from this study is that norms which discourage contraceptive use likely function primarily by decreasing women’s practical abilities (mental effort, social embarrassment, access confidence) to use contraception. This finding suggests that programs aimed at shifting social norms or mitigating their negative impacts on contraception should prioritize […]
The Role of Social Norm in Acceptability Attitude of Women Toward Intimate Partner Violence in Punjab, Pakistan
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study confirms that social norms play a powerful role in shaping women’s acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Punjab, Pakistan. Community-level acceptance of wife-beating is one of the strongest predictors of individual women’s attitudes, indicating a deeply entrenched cultural norm that views IPV as a justified response to perceived […]
‘Spoiled’ girls: Understanding social influences on adolescent contraceptive decision-making in Kenya
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Adolescent girls in Kenya must navigate overlapping and often contradictory social norms that stigmatize both contraceptive use and adolescent pregnancy. Contraceptive use—particularly hormonal methods—is associated with promiscuity and feared to cause infertility, while pregnancy outside of marriage threatens educational and social standing. These stigmas are compounded by gendered power imbalances and […]