Manual on Social Norms and Change

This manual is meant for training programme managers to promote the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). It has been designed under a joint programme of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Joint Programme applies an innovative approach to FGM/C abandonment, using a social norms perspective to guide the selection of an appropriate mix of strategies and activities most conducive to self-sustained social change.

As explained in the guide, “A social norms perspective sheds light on issues that seem complex and sometimes intractable, and offers insights that put attitudinal and collective behavioural change at the forefront of positive social change. Recognizing FGM/C as a social norm entails working through multiple channels to create a social movement, and mobilizing people among practising groups and other individuals who are influential and make decisions.”

The manual provides training materials for a five-day workshop intended for programme managers who have to address abandonment of harmful practices as part of collective social change, and who have a variety of different educational and experiential backgrounds.

The manual includes the following topics:

• A conceptual framework underlying the strategies for FGM/C abandonment based on social norms perspectives and theories, and a human rights-based approach to development programming;
• The need to address FGM/C as a gender and a human rights issue, and the application of a social norms understanding to gender issues;
• The importance of legislation for social change, and of the interaction between legislative reforms and moral and social norms;
• The importance of social networks to diffuse and develop strategies for abandonment;
• A shift in communication approaches towards appreciation, inclusion, and participation, and the importance of trust and argumentation in changing people’s beliefs and expectations;
• Understanding the facts about FGM/C through measurable indicators; and
• Seven transformative elements for changing beliefs and expectations, and collective and social behaviours harmful to children and women.

The Manual is made up of the following sections:

• Introduction and Bibliography
• Manual on Social Norms and Change - Facilitators' Guide
• Readings - Dynamics of a Social Norm: Female Genital/Mutilation/Cutting
• Handouts - Dynamics of a Social Norm: Female Genital/Mutilation/Cutting
• Presentations