Norms Changing Strategies - West Africa Lessons

In our work in West Africa over the past 15 years, we have focused on developing strategies to promote change in social norms – first, related to maternal and child health and nutrition (MCHN) and, since 2010, related to girls’ holistic development (addressing girls’ education, child marriage, teen pregnancy and female genital mutilation - FGM).  

Based on our experiences developing strategies to shift social norms dealing with these different public health issues, we identify several lessons learned regarding: first, who should be involved in such strategies; and second, what communication/education approaches are most effective in promoting community-driven norms change.  Here, we will discuss how we have addressed these two facets of social norms shifting efforts and what we have learned that could be useful to others...