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Using social norms perspectives for sexual violence prevention with conflict-affected communities Sophie Read-Hamilton & Mendy Marsh
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Sexual violence in conflict
Multiple forms of violence, sexualised and other forms of GBV – militarized, in the family and community: ‘everyday’, opportunistic, survival.
Forms, function and prevalence vary across and between conflicts, but also many commonalities.
Negative effects at individual level, community and social – health, rights, community cohesion, equality, peace and development.
Invisible until recently – growing attention, resources, political and humanitarian action.
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Humanitarian response
Mid 90’s onwards significant progress in addressing SV in humanitarian contexts - developments in normative frameworks and in practice: prevention and response.
90’s – early 2000’s: Most investment in response – but still gaps on the ground, especially in insecure environments.
Early 2000’s: Focus on prevention through addressing environmental and service related risks and building community awareness.
Last few years, shift to targeting drivers of SV, including gender inequality and social norms, as well as situational prevention.
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New prevention paradigm
Recognises one-off and awareness-raising interventions are not effective.
Influenced by:- Public health approach - need for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention;
- Ecological model – multiple and interacting risk factors at all levels of the social ecology.
Reflects need to target whole community: women, girls, men and boys.
Focuses on multiple domains of change - transforming relations, social norms, and systems that sustain gender inequality and violence.
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Multiple domains of change
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Srilatha Batiwala, Changing their World, Assoc. Women in Development, 2012
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Social norms
Norms related to gender, masculinity, sex, stigma etc. are a key determinant of GBV – influence all levels of the social ecology.
Norms are informal rules that members of a community or group are expected to follow - shared expectations about what others do and think you should do.
Based on the way a person sees others behave and believes others think she should behave.
Proscribe and prescribe behaviour – what one must or must not do as a member of a group.
Compliance motivated by rewards and sanctions.
Can and do change!
UNICEF’s Communities Care program
Drawing on empirical evidence of effectiveness of social norms interventions in behaviour change, UNICEF developed the Communities Care: Transforming Lives and Preventing Violence program.
A participatory, community-based social norms intervention for SV prevention and response.
Goal “To create safer communities for women and girls through transforming harmful social norms that contribute to sexual violence into social norms that uphold women and girls’ equality, safety and dignity”.
Currently being piloted in Somalia and South Sudan.
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Foundations
Careful analysis and research about what has worked in using social norms in violence prevention and health behavior change eg. WASH, FGM, DV, SV.
New prevention paradigm and good practice in VAW prevention and response.
Participatory and whole-of-community approach to social change.
Transformative human rights approach that localizes human rights principles and affirms positive shared values.
Benefits-based positive approach.
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Community-Based Care
Increase availability, accessibility, quality of services.
Build survivor-centred knowledge,skills behaviours amongst service providers.
Build service provider norms that encourage survivors to seek help.
Community Engagement and Action
Build positive norms.
Foster collective public action to demonstrate commitment to change.
Communicate new ideas and expectations.
Create a supportive environment.
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Step 1 Strengthen community-based care and support for survivors
Step 2 Reflect collectively on vision, values, rights, beliefs and norms
Step 3 Explore beliefs, behaviours and benefits of change related to gender, power, violence
Step 4 Commit to change and demonstrate publically
Step 5 Communicate change is happening
Step 6 Build an enabling environment
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Research component
Being undertaken by Johns Hopkins University.
Aims to:- Inform intervention - formative research on norms
- Support monitoring - monitor change midline
- Test theory of change and measure effectiveness
Survey tool to measure norms and coherence with personal opinion.
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Progress
Intervention tools developed.
Social norms survey developed.
Baseline data collected across sites.
Adaptation of the Toolkit and Discussion Guide to the Somali and South Sudanese contexts.
Staff orientation and training to program and toolkit.
Community discussions underway in Somalia.
Staff training underway in South Sudan.
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Challenges
Social norms theory is complex - building knowledge and skills of staff in applying social norms theory requires translation of complex concepts into meaning and applicable ideas.
Sexual violence is not one thing - need to identify the range of norms that contribute to different forms of sexual violence.
Measuring norms is a complicated process - presence, strength, whether personal beliefs align or not, etc. Quantitative or qualitative? Whilst some progress in measuring gender norms eg. GEMS, there is little guidance or experience in practice.
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Challenges
Adopting and facilitating participatory processes requires time and a specific skill set.
Programming in chronic conflict-affected contexts: - Security, access, population movement- Partner organizational and technical capacity- Literacy levels
Security may mean that reduction of ‘dose’ is seen as viable when in fact it may compromise the intervention integrity and therefore efficacy.
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“I feel lucky to be part of this process, I enjoy the discussions. People bring out their ideas educating me in the process. Being part of this group has also changed me. In the beginning I was shy and would find it impossible to talk in front of a crowd. Now, I can comfortably speak my thoughts in front of a group as large as this.”
“I have developed a different outlook on how we live. Listening to the others has exposed me to diverse views giving me a new understanding. Because the environment in the group is positive, I am now able to share things about my life without fear or embarrassment.”
“My expectations about how people should treat me have also changed. When others share their experiences, it makes me more empathetic. This has taught me how I should treat other people.”
“Through the discussions, I have been reminded of the values in our community that create an environment for all of us to live in harmony. I intend to highlight this to those around me especially to my family so they can also become part of the process of creating a safer environment for all.”
