Toolkit
1 December 2020

Social norms design checklist

Author: ESubden
Published by: Care, Tipping Point
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First page of toolkit

Care have created this checklist to support both programme design and ongoing implementation of social norms-shifting interventions. Often programmers plan to challenge and shift harmful social norms but are not certain of where to begin and how to adapt their activities to include norms-shifting components, effectively moving beyond individual behaviour change. Programmes that do not understand how to shift harmful norms may inadvertently reinforce them, or simply be ineffective at challenging and shifting them. This checklist provides examples of questions to ask while designing activities, examples of how to fill in any gaps identified, and what norms-shifting interventions look like in action. The checklist should be used after the programme identifies the harmful social norms that act as barriers to positive behaviours and outcomes and thus the context in which norms operate.