Raising the Flag: Diffusion of Gender Norms Change at the Community Level in Nepal

Summary:

Addressing social norms is increasingly recognized as key to sustained and transformative social and behavioral change in many development areas. However, social norms interventions are frequently criticized for being high-cost, intensive and difficult to scale. Evidence supporting the best strategies to measure and track norms change at the community level is also minimal, leaving researchers and practitioners without effective tools and processes to determine the impact of and pathways to larger-scale norms change. In this presentation we will highlight how effective norms diffusion and measurement strategies, including using quantitative methods to identify changes and patterns that more traditional sampling methods miss, could be utilized to more effectively target and trace the impact of social norms-oriented SBCC programming, ultimately arguing that understanding the social pathways through which change occurs, can pave the way for more efficient and cost effective intervention designs that are built for successful scale-up. We will draw on our recent research into how norms change, driven by a radio and community mobilization program focused on preventing Intimate Partner Violence in Nepal, moved beyond the original trendsetters to effect change at a community level, through a focused norms diffusion campaign. In doing so, this presentation will share insights into the hows and whys of successful norms diffusion efforts, highlighting how flags, GPS mapping and social network analysis helped us both visualize and accelerate the spread of gender equitable norms through a community in rural Nepal - resulting in the declaration of Nepal's first violence free community.

Background/Objectives

In 2018, Equal Access International (EAI) and Emory University received a grant to investigate diffusion effects of our SBCC and norms focused intervention, Change Starts at Home (Change) in Nepal. The original programming succeeded in shifting gender-norms among couples in our listening and discussion groups (LDGs) with some initial diffusion out to key reference groups. With the follow on grant, we returned to one community to encourage and map more intentionally norms diffusion from the initial closed group to the wider community. Our presentation will focus on both the tactics used to support and to track this organized diffusion.

Description Of Intervention And/or Methods/Design

To identify characteristics supportive of diffusion we used mixed-methods analysis of data from the original Change trial, including quantitative data (n=1440x3) and qualitative data from intervention couples (n=18x3) and family members. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examined whether diffusion occurred and by which pathways. For the diffusion intervention, we returned to a Change community and provided our original LDGs with an 8 week intervention booster focused on organized diffusion activities, culminating in a flag campaign. The purpose of the flag campaign was encouraging community members to hang flags outside of their homes as a visible commitment to violence free households. Repeated cross-sectional GPS data was used to map the clustering and pattern of diffusion of flags over time, along with interviews of hoisting/non-hoisting households. Community wide social network analysis was used to understand network structures and the impact of network characteristics on the likelihood of flag hoisting.

Results/Lessons Learned

1.Visualizing norms change is effective in measuring, mapping and accelerating change through a community with 90% of households in the community hoisting a flag to indicate their support for gender equitable norms. 2.Messaging was largely being transmitted within households and through very close geospatial relationships (neighbors and friends) with a few people providing bridges to others in the community. 3.Increased centrality within the social network and more equitable attitudes at baseline were associated with earlier hoisting. 4.There is a clear relationship between the amount of diffusion and the amount of social norms change at levels that were programmatically relevant among communities with the most gender inequitable norms at the start of programming. 5.Among persons not directly exposed to programmatic messaging, only those living in communities where diffusion of messaging was robust had a heightened likelihood of providing assistance to a survivor of violence

Discussion/Implications For The Field

By focusing specifically on diffusion of norms our findings provide critical evidence of potential typologies that describe processes of norm change, guiding practitioners understanding/targeting of those most likely to accelerate change, resist it or provide a bridge between different social networks. We present compelling evidence that identifying networks at the start of an intervention is key to planning and measuring effective SBCC strategies intent on social norms change. But more research is needed. By sharing our early positive findings, we hope to mobilize donors to support more research into the potential of these approaches for taking norms interventions to scale.

Abstract submitted by: 

Gemma Ferguson - Equal Access

Binita Shrestha - Equal Access

Cari Jo Clark - Emory University

Click here to access the published paper from the above-mentioned research: "Diffusion in social norms change about violence against women: A longitudinal analysis of intervention data from a cluster randomised trial", by Cari Jo Clark, Brian Batayeh, Prabin Nanicha Shrestha, Grace Morrow, Binita Shrestha, and Gemma Ferguson (Global Public Health. 2020 Oct 6;1-13. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1828984.)