Women farmers in a community hard hit by drought in 2011 in Kenya. © Flore de Preneuf / World Bank
© Flore de Preneuf / World Bank

Monitoring and evaluating the impact of norm change initiatives

The two most widely evaluated approaches to promoting gender equitable norms are:

  • Edutainment and multi-media campaigns
  • Non-formal education, including short courses aiming to shift norms and community dialogue processes

Below we showcase some tools used to monitor and evaluate shifts in norms using these approaches.

Tools for measuring changes through edutainment

Initiative Norms-related evaluation questions
UNESCO radio series on GBV: A new dawn in Quialana (Mexico)

Perceived community acceptance of gender-based violence (GBV) (norm):

“Do you think that that the community, the neighbours, and other families see violence against women as a serious problem here in Quialana?” with responses coded from 1 (“No, they do not see it as a problem at all”) to 4 (“They see it as a serious problem that needs to change”).

The evaluation also probed personal beliefs about and responses to GBV, expectations about the future, and respondents’ intentions to bring up their children with gender-equitable values.
Change Starts at Home radio show plus community intervention, Nepal

The evaluation asked about changes in attitudes, norms and intended behaviour towards GBV. 

Norms questions: The endline survey asks respondents how many people in the community agree with the following statements (0 = No-one in my community believes this, 1 = Some people in my community believe this, 2 = Most people in my community believe this, 3 = Everyone in my community believes this):

  • A husband who helps his wife with the household chores will not be respected by his family. 
  • A man who makes important decisions jointly with his wife will be considered a weak man by his family. 
  • A man’s family will think he is a disloyal son if he takes his wife’s opinion over his mother’s opinion. 
  • A woman who openly expresses her sexual desires to her husband is perceived to be vulgar. 
  • Husbands may use force to reprimand their wives because men should be in control of their families. 
  • A woman who complains about her husband’s violent behaviour is considered a disloyal wife by her in-laws. 
  • A woman who does not tolerate violence from her husband is dishonouring her family and should not be welcomed home. 
  • A person who intervenes when a woman is being beaten by her husband would be considered to be interfering or meddling in the couple’s private affairs. 
  • A woman who refuses to have sex when her husband wants it is to be blamed if he has an affair or remarries. 
Taru, Radio Soap Opera, India The evaluation asked respondents’ views on son preference, sex-selective abortion, and whose opinions mattered most to respondents on family planning decisions (spouse, family elders, friends), as well as asking many other questions on gender norm and equality issues.
UNICEF Saleema – multi-component initiative to reduce FGM, including media campaign

The evaluation probes various building blocks of change in relation to FGM/C: respondent’s self-efficacy, expectations about the effects of abandoning FGM/C, intended future behaviour, and perception of descriptive and injunctive norms around the practice. 

Descriptive norms: Perceived prevalence of FGM/C practice
1.    Most people in my community practice cutting
2.    Most of my friends practice cutting

Injunctive norms: Perceived acceptability of FGM/C practice
3.    It is appropriate for families in my community to practice cutting
4.    Sudanese society in general considers it appropriate to practise cutting

The survey also asks about identification with the Saleema brand, access to media, exposure to messages and recall of messages.

Tools for monitoring change through non-formal education processes

Initiative     Norms-related evaluation questions
Responsible, Engaged and Loving (REAL) Fathers Initiative, Uganda The evaluation asks respondents to think about the people whose opinions about their behaviour as a father and as a partner matter most to them, and whether most, half, some or none of them would think that the behaviour described are acceptable or common:
  • How many of these people think it is okay for a young father to beat or hit his wife/partner to correct her behaviour?
  • How many of these people think it is okay for a young father to beat or hit his child to correct the child’s behaviour?
  • How many of these people think it is okay for a husband to be able to have sex with his wife whenever he wants?
  • In your opinion, how many young fathers in your community hit or beat their wife/partner to correct her behaviour? Would you say many, some, few, or none?
  • In your opinion, how many young fathers in your community hit or beat their child to correct the child’s behaviour? Would you say many, some, few, or none?
  • In your opinion, how many young fathers in your community are able to have sex with their wives whenever they want?
Communities Care, South Sudan and Somalia (to date)

South Sudan and Somalia (to date)    This community-based non-formal education and community development initiative to promote good quality care for GBV survivors and change norms around GBV in humanitarian contexts, developed an evaluation with a Social Norms and GBV Scale. Respondents were asked how far on a scale of 1-4 they agreed with the following statements, and researchers then computed average change between baseline and endline:

Response to sexual violence

  1. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect a husband to abandon his wife if she reports that she has been raped? 
  2. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect the family to ignore/reject a daughter if she reports that she has been raped? 
  3. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you accept sexual violence against women and girls a normal part of life?
  4. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you blame women/girls when they are raped? 
  5. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you think that a man should have the right to demand sex from a woman or girl even if he is not married to her?  

Protecting  family  honour 

  1. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect women/girls to not report rape to protect the family dignity? 
  2. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect that a woman/girl's reputation will be damaged if she reports sexual violence to the authorities or elders?
  3. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you fear stigma if they were to report sexual violence? 
  4. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect sexual violence to be handled within the family and not reported to authorities?
  5. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect a husband or father to retaliate against the alleged perpetrators?
  6. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect women and girls to only report sexual violence if they have serious physical injuries? 

Husband’s right to use violence 

  1. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you think that when a man beats his wife, he is showing his love for her?
  2. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you think that a man has the right to beat/punish his wife?
  3. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you think it is okay for a husband to beat his wife to discipline her?
  4. How many of these people whose opinion matters most to you expect a husband to force his wife to have sex when she does not want to?
Tipping Point, Nepal and Bangladesh

This is a community education programme to end child marriage and promote equitable gender norms affecting adolescents. The example below comes from the Tipping Point survey for girls in Bangladesh. There are similar versions for girls and boys in Nepal and community members in both countries. Respondents are asked how far they agree with the statement on a scale of 1-3:

  1. Most people in my village do not approve of girls who study after marriage. 
  2. Most people in my village will approve if a girl studied as long as boys. 
  3. Most people in my village will approve if a non-school going, unmarried girl works outside home to earn money.
  4. Most people in our village will approve of a girl under 18 getting married if her family honour is at risk. 
  5. Most people in my village will approve if a girl expresses her opinion regarding her marriage to her parents.
  6. Most people in my village will not approve if a girl goes to the bazaar alone. 
  7. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a boy regularly cooks food for his family. 
  8. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a girl speaks openly about menstruation. 
  9. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a girl advocates for girls’ needs in the community. 
  10. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a girl rides a bicycle for leisure (i.e. not to go to school).
  11. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a girl plays football or other outdoor sport.
  12. Most of the people in my village will not approve if a girl walks alone to visit her friend in her free time.

Note: these questions are listed to show the types of questions that can probe changes in norms. They will need to be tested for relevance in new contexts.

The Learning Collaborative’s map of social norms-focused interventions and research showcases the tools used to measure norm change in numerous evaluations, most of which focus on sexual and reproductive health, child marriage and gender-based violence. 

A woman with a baby on her back. Copyright: Annie Spratt
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