The Drum Beat 784 - Social Norms, Gender, and Culture

• 1.Mapping the Social-Norms Literature: An Overview of Reviews
  by Sophie Legros and Beniamino CislaghiThis map of 22 reviews identifies 4 key themes and highlights areas of agreement and disagreement: What are the definitions of social norms included in the reviews? What pathways of normative influence are commonly identified in the literature? What types of mechanisms are described in the reviews for how social norms come about, evolve, and dissipate? And what categories of agents are identified in the reviews as relevant in the study of social norms? [Nov 2019]
   
• 2.Lancet Series on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health
  This collection of 5 papers seeks to provide analysis and insights into the impact of gender inequalities and norms on health, and the opportunities that exist within health systems, programmes, policies, and research to transform gender norms and inequalities. [May 2019]
   
• 3.Tipping Point Social Norms Innovations Series
  The briefs in this series highlight innovations from CARE International's Tipping Point initiative, which aims to promote positive alternatives to child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM) for girls in Bangladesh and Nepal. To guide and inform its work, Tipping Point distilled 8 design principles for engaging with social norms change. [Feb 2016 (Bangladesh briefs); Feb 2018 (Nepal briefs)]
   
• 4.CUSP 2018 Case Study Collection
  The Community for Understanding Scale Up (CUSP) is a group of 9 organisations with experience in developing social norms change methodologies that are being scaled across many regions and contexts. Featuring successful and challenging examples, the collection of 5 case studies summarises lessons for those interested in funding, planning, adapting, and scaling social norms programming. [Dec 2018]
   

• 5.Preventing Violence against Women and Girls: Community Activism Approaches to Shift Harmful Gender Attitudes, Roles and Social Norms
  by Rachel Jewkes, Erin Stern, and Leane RamsoomarViolence against women and girls (VAWG) is driven in part by socially reproduced and shared attitudes and norms on gender inequality and the acceptability of violence. Women's rights organisations across the Global South have undertaken interventions to challenge these social norms. The What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Global Programme has generated evidence on the effect of these interventions in a range of settings. Data show the potential for preventing VAWG through multi-year, intensive change interventions with well-trained and supported community action teams that purposefully engage both women and men to effect change. [Sep 2019]
   
• 6.The Saleema Initiative in Sudan to Abandon Female Genital Mutilation: Outcomes and Dose Response Effects
  by W. Douglas Evans, Cody Donahue, Jeremy Snider, Nafisa Bedri, Tibyaan A. Elhussein, and Samira Ahmed ElaminSudan's Saleema initiative is an effort to promote long-term abandonment of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM) by changing social norms, attitudes, and intentions. Data gathered from 2015-2017 show that higher doses of Saleema were associated with reduced pro-FGM social norms, and the Saleema programme brand and identity "were widely recognized, as reflected in the self-reported recall data and increases in event attendance. Saleema represents as a source of strength, social support for ending FGM, and progress for Sudanese society. Identification with the brand was the primary program strategy to reduce pro-FGM social norms." [Mar 2019]
   
• 7.Changing Social Norms: The Importance of "Organized Diffusion" for Scaling Up Community Health Promotion and Women Empowerment Interventions
  by Beniamino Cislaghi, Elaine K. Denny, Mady Cissé, Penda Gueye, Binita Shrestha, Prabin Nanicha Shrestha, Gemma Ferguson, Claire Hughes, and Cari Jo ClarkThis paper examines how "organised diffusion" - the sharing of knowledge encouraged by practitioners and led by programme participants - can increase the reach of community discussions, ultimately helping interventions achieve effective social norms change. It provides quantitative evidence from 3 case studies - Community Empowerment Program (CEP) in Mali, Change Starts at Home (Change) in Nepal, and Voices for Change (V4C) in Nigeria - to illustrate the potential and power of organised diffusion. [Feb 2019]
   
• 8.Effectiveness of Community Dialogue in Changing Gender and Sexual Norms for HIV Prevention: Evaluation of the Tchova Tchova Program in Mozambique
  by Maria Elena Figueroa, Patricia Poppe, Maria Carrasco, Maria Dirce Pinho, Felisberto Massingue, Maria Tanque, and Amata KwizeraThe Tchova Tchova (TT) community dialogue programme, a theory-based intervention implemented in the provinces of Zambezia and Sofala, Mozambique, aimed to change gender and sexual norms for HIV prevention. This article measures TT's effectiveness in inspiring more favourable attitudes related to gender equity and HIV/AIDS, in opening up discussion of sex-related issues in a place where such topics are taboo, and in increasing HIV prevention knowledge. The researchers surmise that using stories of local Mozambicans as trendsetters/positive deviants increased audience identification with the messages and made them more credible. [May 2016]
   
• 9.Using a Modified Champion Community Approach for Improving Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Outcomes in Remote and Insecure Health Zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2012-2017: A Case Study
  by Lynn Liebermann Lawry, Janvier Barhobagayana, and Ousmane FayeResearch has found that the use of community mobilisation approaches can aid in changing attitudes, norms, practices, and behaviours, enabling communities to better assess and prioritise their needs and develop solutions that are contextualised and culturally appropriate. This report shares the results of a study assessing the impact of a modified champion community approach (CCA) on maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) indicators and identifies factors that made this approach a success in rural areas of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to inform the application of a modified CCA to other settings. [Oct 2019]
   
• See also:
  * The Potential of a Community-Led Approach to Change Harmful Gender Norms in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
  

• 10.Should We Use Entertainment Media to Shape Norms and Behaviors at Scale?
  The World Bank's Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) department has been testing use of mass entertainment media in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia to change social norms and behaviour for better development outcomes. This video shares the proceedings of a DIME event that asked: "Is engagement in behavior change through partnerships with entertainment media a cost-effective way to improve attitudes and behaviors at scale? What are the ethical concerns of changing cultures and norms?..." [Oct 2019]
   
• 11.Reflecting Strategic and Conforming Gendered Experiences of Community Health Workers Using Photovoice in Rural Wakiso District, Uganda
  by David Musoke, Charles Ssemugabo, Rawlance Ndejjo, Elizabeth Ekirapa-Kiracho, and Asha S. GeorgeThis paper explores the differential roles of male and female community health workers (CHWs) in rural Wakiso district, Uganda, using photovoice, a community-based participatory research approach through which participants take the lead in the data collection (photography) activity and express their viewpoints directly. [Aug 2019]
   
• 12.The Big Conversation: Handbook to Address Violence against Women in and through the Media
  by Dina Deligiorgis with Manal BenkiraneDue to their reach and their ability to influence and shape ideas and perceptions about what is considered socially acceptable (social norms), the media have the potential to play a key role in preventing VAWG in the long term. This is the view of UNESCO and UN Women, who created this handbook to provide guidance to those working with media organisations to advance gender equality and prevent VAWG. [Dec 2019]
   
• 13.Facilitation Guide for an Integrated Evaluation Methodology: Most Significant Change and PhotoVoice
  This guide offers step-by-step instructions on how to conduct participatory evaluation sessions with communities using 2 qualitative methodologies, Most Significant Change and Photovoice. It was developed as part of the Learning for Gender Integration (LGI) initiative, a programme focused on addressing gender inequality in the context of food security in India, Nicaragua, and Uganda. [2017]
   
• See also:
  * BBC Media Action Microsite: Gender
  * The Value-Add of Community Video in Changing Nutrition and Hygiene Behaviors: Evidence from a Comparative Study in Senegal
  

• * Social norms - 1,009 items and growing...
• * Gender and "social norms" - 361 items and growing...
• * Gender and "cultural" - 1,247 items and growing...
• * Project Evaluations and "cultural" - 233 items and growing...
• * Impact Data and "social norms" - 42 items and growing...
• * and so on...!

• Impact Examples: Girls' and Women's Empowerment

• * The Drum Beat 779 - Communicating about Youth, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Gender
• * The Drum Beat 761 - Attending to Gender in Health Communication
• * The Drum Beat 758 - Shifting Norms: Selections from the SBCC Summit
• * The Drum Beat 723 - Communication to Address Violence against Women and Girls

• 14.Social Norms Exploration Tool (SNET)
  A participatory learning and action tool that guides a social norms exploration, SNET was developed by the Passages Project at the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) of Georgetown University, in partnership with members of the Learning Collaborative to Advance Normative Change. [Jan 2020]
   
• 15.Global Polio Eradication Initiative Technical Brief: Gender
  The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) recognises that gender-related barriers to immunisation operate at multiple levels, from the individual and the household to the community, and that an integral part of reaching every last child with vaccines is the increased participation of women in immunisation activities. This brief introduces 4 gender-sensitive indicators for monitoring progress towards ensuring equal access to vaccinations and the engagement of women. [Jul 2018]
   
• 16.What Can Gender Indices Tell Us about Gender Norms that Affect Adolescent Girls?
  by Paola Pereznieto with Rachel MarcusThis note looks in detail at 5 global indices that provide measures of gender equality and empowerment: the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI); the Gender Inequality Index (GIE); the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI); the African Gender Inequality Index (GEI); and the African Gender Development Index (AGDI). It emerges from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI)'s 4-year programme Transforming the Lives of Adolescent Girls, which involved fieldwork in Ethiopia, Uganda, Nepal, and Viet Nam. [Sep 2015]
   
• 17.A 'How to' Guide to Measuring Women's Empowerment: Sharing Experience from Oxfam's Impact Evaluations
  by Simone Lombardini, Kimberly Bowman, and Rosa GarwoodThis resource shares Oxfam GB's experience of developing the Women's Empowerment Index for use in its series of Effectiveness Reviews. It provides lists of common indicators, examples of questionnaire design for the most commonly used indicators, and examples of Stata code. [May 2017]
   
• See also:
  * Resources for Measuring Social Norms: A Practical Guide for Program Implementers
  * Engendering Transformational Change: Save the Children Gender Equality Program Guidance & Toolkit
  

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