Measuring Normative Shifts in Complex Environments: Virtual Training

NSIs operate within complex social systems, leading to unexpected effects, including social opposition and unanticipated outcomes. This module focuses on monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategies to gather and use information to improve NSI implementation in complex contexts. Monitoring and evaluation of NSIs differ from other projects due to the complex social dynamics involved. In this section, an overview of monitoring and evaluation will be provided, examining strategies to gather and use information to improve NSI implementation. Project monitoring and rapid studies will be discussed, which provide a basis for learning and adaptive management of NSI during implementation. Monitoring in complex social contexts implies looking for signs of norms change and addressing social pushback, opposition, or other unanticipated outcomes as they emerge. Conducting rapid learning studies allows for real-time assessment of NSI strategies, providing data for decision-making at different points in project implementation. The evaluation of normative shifts will be discussed, moving to a discussion of measurement, where quantitative and qualitative approaches to measure normative change resulting from NSI project implementation will be examined. Social norms are context-specific and defined in relation to a reference group, those who matter to an individual in a specific situation. Reference groups are influential people, individuals, or peer groups that sustain community beliefs around social norms. Power holders within reference groups have disproportionate influence on the behaviors and beliefs of a group. The lens of social behavior change (SBC) that is normatively focused emphasizes changing power dynamics, which is at the center of norms change. This approach focuses on community, is normatively oriented, and creates safe spaces for critical reflection. The design of NSIs should involve asking the community which norms have the biggest influence, rather than assuming which norms are most important. Monitoring is a systematic and routine process of gathering information from different parts of a program, usually focused on short-term outcomes, and generally conducted by people involved in the program. Evaluation, on the other hand, is an assessment of an entire program cycle, usually long-term, often conducted by impartial outsiders with M&E background, and can also be participatory. Classic M&E may need to be adjusted for NSIs due to the complexity of the social systems involved. NSIs operate in complexity, and there are additional elements to track or monitor. One of the important gaps in NSI evaluation is that norms are not often identified as projects begin, rather they are assumed. In addition, while activities may be designed to be norms-shifting, they are not articulated as such and are lost or forgotten when evaluation occurs. The influence of complex environments on project design, implementation, and evaluation is significant. Complex systems operate in unexpected ways, and frequent monitoring helps implementers to keep track of events as they unfold and to react to them. Monitoring provides real-time information, allowing for adaptive management of NSI during implementation.