Masculinities, Faith, and Peace in Nigeria
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The Masculinities, Faith, and Peace (MFP) project in Nigeria highlights how faith-based, community-led dialogue can shift entrenched social norms around gender roles, family planning, and intimate partner violence. By reframing religious narratives through an inclusive and interfaith lens, MFP successfully challenged norms that equated masculinity with virility and sanctioned violence against […]
More Than Brides Alliance: Endline Evaluation Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The More Than Brides Alliance (MTBA) endline evaluation shows that shifting social norms—particularly around the value of girls’ education, the ideal age of marriage, and gender roles in relationships—is central to reducing child marriage. While individual-level knowledge and attitudes improved across intervention sites, broader normative change was uneven and highly context-specific. […]
On her own account: How strengthening women’s financial control impacts labor supply and gender norms
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study demonstrates that enhancing women’s financial control can lead to shifts in both individual and community-level gender norms about female labor. Without directly targeting norms, the intervention resulted in more progressive personal beliefs and a reduction in perceived social stigma around women working—particularly among women who were initially constrained by […]
The impact of an intervention to prevent intimate partner violence against women in Tanzania: findings from the MAISHA cluster randomised controlled trial
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides strong evidence that adolescent girls’ perceptions of gendered social norms—particularly around marriage and education—are predictive of their expectations for their own futures. Norms around when girls should marry, whether education is valuable for them, and whether they are expected to work or stay home shape their aspirations and […]
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 […]
Encoded exposure and social norms in entertainment-education
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study provides empirical evidence that entertainment-education (EE) programs can influence social norms directly through audience exposure, without necessarily relying on behavior change as a mediator. It highlights the importance of “encoded exposure”—a multi-dimensional measure capturing attention, recall, involvement, and frequency of engagement—with findings suggesting that deep and sustained involvement with […]
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 […]
IMAGINE Endline Evaluation Report
Key Social Norms Take-aways: The IMAGINE program demonstrates that interventions targeting adolescent girls’ agency, gender dynamics, and economic empowerment can result in promising shifts in social norms related to family planning and gender roles. Notably, in Bangladesh, the intervention influenced norms around the timing of marriage and childbearing, and in Niger, it fostered greater contraceptive […]
“On the Wings of Wishes” (Icchedana), Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh Taking Flight Using A Social Behavioral Change Communication Program to Address Child Marriage Related Social Norms: A Longitudinal Panel Study.
Key Social Norms Take-aways: This study shows that social norms change is possible through targeted communication efforts but remains uneven across groups. While personal beliefs (injunctive norms) can shift—particularly among fathers—community-level perceptions (descriptive norms) often persist. Interventions must explicitly target reference groups and address the perceived social consequences of norm-breaking to create an enabling environment […]