Social norms are those informal rules that govern our belief system and define how to behave in accordance with what a group of people or society has defined as good, right, necessary or acceptable. Social norms are mostly unspoken and unwritten and often seen as constraining behavior to meet the generally agreed and believed expectations. The impact of harmful social norms, such as expectations related to gender-based violence, childbearing, and women’s economic engagement, has received increasing attention over the last decade. As more programs seek to foster norms that support healthy behaviors, there is also an emerging need to make the latest knowledge and evidence on social norms widely accessible and create a space for researchers and practitioners to share and produce knowledge.

The Social Norms Learning Collaborative is an initiative for identifying, sharing and discussing norms-shifting interventions focused on improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being. Comprised of over 400 members in 4 regions across the globe, the Learning Collaborative contributes to building consensus on program, evaluation, and scale-up approaches for norms-shifting interventions. Launched in 2016 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and support from USAID through the Passages Project, the Learning Collaborative catalysed a global network of researchers, practitioners and donors to advance social norms theory, measurement and practice.