Getting Practical: Integrating Social Norms into SBC

When behavior change is a program goal, program planners need to understand if, how, when, and under what conditions the behavior is influenced by social norms (i.e., what people in a group believe is typical and appropriate behavior).

Social and behavior change program implementers may be aware that social norms are powerful influencers of behaviors and outcomes, yet they may be unsure how to integrate social norms-shifting programming into program design.

As new evidence and learning on the importance of social norms and how to shift or transform them to influence behavior emerge, there are more resources for implementers to put guidance into practice. This new tool, Getting Practical: Integrating Social Norms into Social and Behavior Change Programs (also available in French), was developed for country-level program planners, designers, and monitoring/research staff to address the gap between formative social norms research and the other phases of the program design cycle to allow for adaptive programming. It is the result of a participatory process of input and feedback organized by Breakthrough ACTION and the Learning Collaborative to Advance Normative Change.

What is included in the Getting Practical Tool?

In addition to this guide, Getting Practical includes:

• A slide deck for each of the four modules that facilitators can adapt and use to structure the workshop. Each slide deck has slides to introduce, conduct, and wrap up each individual activity.
• An introductory video that explains the purpose of the tool and quickly guides potential facilitators through how to use Getting Practical.

Getting Practical Feedback Form

Thank you for taking the time to use this tool! We hope that it enables your team to have a better understanding of social norms and how you can incorporate them to achieve your program’s behavioral objectives. Your honest and open feedback is essential to helping us refine and improve the tool for future users.

As you go through the tool, please answer the questions for each module in this feedback form. At the end of the questionnaire, there are two sections with questions on the structure and overall impressions of the tool.