Social Norms Key to Development Programming: Landscaping Finds Their Influence on Behaviors Across Sectors

An exciting body of knowledge has emerged on the role of social norms — both as barriers and facilitators — in health sector social behavior change. IRH’s Strengthening Social Norms Programming activity, which aims to look social norms programming in sectors outside of health, is being conducted by Institute for Reproductive Health under the USAID-funded Passages project with support from the USAID’s Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. This brief synthesizes and underscores key findings from a landscaping report that sought to understand and engage with social norms across six selected USAID sectors, exploring the application of and evidence base for social norms approaches. Findings are broadly relevant and highlight promising practices for the Agriculture and Food Security, Education, Energy and Infrastructure, Land and Urban Development, Technology, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene sectors. The full final report can be read here.