Age and Agency: Evidence from a Women’s Empowerment Program in Tanzania
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that community-level social norms around child marriage—specifically, the average perceived appropriate age of marriage and norms around girls’ education and labor—significantly influence individual girls’ marriage expectations and transitions. Norms function both through collective expectations and the behavior of others in the community, reinforcing early marriage in contexts where […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fertility preservation and protection: young women’s decision-making about contraceptive use in Zimbabwe
Key Social Norms Take-aways: Prevailing social norms in Zimbabwe dictate a moral and reproductive trajectory in which young women are expected to marry, prove fertility by having a child, and only then begin using hormonal contraception. These norms lead many young, nulliparous women to avoid long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), despite their availability, due to fears […]
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 […]
ADOLESCENT TRANSITION IN WEST AFRICA (ATWA) OUTCOME EVALUATION 2022-2023 Endline Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The ATWA program demonstrates that comprehensive, school- and community-based life skills education can lead to early shifts in social norms around gender and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although short-term changes in community-level norms were modest, significant improvements in adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes, and gender-equitable beliefs suggest that norms around […]
People Will Talk About Her If She Is Not Circumcised: Exploring the Patterning, Drivers, and Gender Norms Around Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia’s Somali Region
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights that female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ethiopia’s Somali region is upheld by intersecting and context-specific social norms tied to religion, culture, femininity, and marriageability. The study applies social norms theory, distinguishing between empirical and normative expectations, and explicitly identifies FGM—especially infibulation—as a deeply entrenched norm. Girls and women […]
You are looked upon as a luxury tool: Young Tanzanian women’s perception of community norms supporting partner violence during transactional sex
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The article highlights that harmful gender norms — including the normalization of male control and violence, the double standards around women’s sexuality, and the stigma against transactional sex — underpin women’s vulnerability in kudanga relationships. Addressing these social norms through community-wide engagement, shifting gender power dynamics, and reducing stigma is essential […]
Understanding reference groups for norms and behaviour change: the intersection of relationship dynamics and family planning
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study highlights how reference groups—trusted individuals who influence beliefs and behaviors—shape social and gender norms related to family planning and relationship dynamics in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Godparents, pastors, friends, and health workers each influence norms in different ways and with varying effectiveness across topics. Some actors provide […]