How Transformation from Gender Norms Programming Occurs

In September 2023, #GenderConversations blogger argued in an article that  transforming gender norms is a long haul – which is indeed true.  Although this position challenges the notion of rapid gender norms change, our field-level programming on gender and social norms transformation work over the last five years has shown that some gender norms can change quickly.

While it would be unreasonable to claim that a single short or medium-term project, can shift long standing gender and social norms, it is possible to see accelerated change by building on the foundation of long-standing feminist and gender transformation work.

In a community that has worked on gender-related issues for decades, targeted and well-structured gender norms programming can be a tipping point for triggering faster change. This could be in the distribution of unpaid care work in households, better joint investment decisions amongst spouses leading to visible investments and reductions in gender-based violence. Attribution however is difficult as some other work could have already been done in such a society.

At the organisational level, where actors are engaged in gender norms transformation, a recent study has identified five crucial factors for gender norms programming and transformation. From the perspective of the organisation these include:

1.      Robust design of gender norms work, which is considered the foundational stage of the transformation. This implies that investing in quality design of gender norms work can be rewarding.

2.      It is crucial to invest in developing models that are flexible enough to allow for adaptations as necessary for deployment in the pursuit of gender transformational work. Some available models in the development space can be adapted to fit the purpose, rather than starting anew.

3.      Implementation of the models with adequate feedback and flexibility allows for diverse groups and genders to partake in the interventions. Evidence indicates that intensive investment in implementation yields better results than “light touch” approaches. Follow-up can help plug any loopholes and quickly address back lashes. Involvement of community structures can also be helpful for sustainability.

4.      Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) on how gender and social norms are shifting is critical. Lessons should be picked and fed back into the process. Traditional monitoring and evaluation may not capture the nuance. Hence, gender transformative MEL is critical, and this may require fine-tuning tools and methodologies.

5.      Another critical element is optimisation of what works and dropping what does not. This step will include scaling up working solutions, expanding, and refining further.

The nonlinear approach mentioned above should be founded on committed leadership, strong gender norms, technical expertise, innovation, communication, flexibility, and the involvement of various skilled stakeholders including academia, practitioners, advocates, policy makers, community groups and funders.

Please note that this article is based on field experience and an assessment conducted in June 2024 of the Eastern Africa Gender and Social Norms Learning Collaborative (EALC) Project. The project implementation was co-led by CARE Uganda and the Makerere University School of Women and Gender Studies from 2019 to 2023.