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Achieving impact through research for development programmes (R4D) requires engagement with diverse stakeholders across the research, development and policy divides. Understanding how such programmes support the emergence of outcomes, therefore, requires a focus on the relational aspects of engagement and collaboration. Increasingly, evaluation of large research collaborations is employing social network analysis (SNA), making use of its relational view of causation. In this paper, we use three applications of SNA within similar large R4D programmes, through our work within evaluation of three Interidsiplinary Hubs of the Global Challenges Research Fund, to explore its potential as an evaluation method. Our comparative analysis shows that SNA can uncover the structural dimensions of interactions within R4D programmes and enable learning about how networks evolve through time. We reflect on common challenges across the cases including navigating different forms of bias that result from incomplete network data, multiple interpretations across scales, and the challenges of making causal inference and related ethical dilemmas. We conclude with lessons on the methodological and operational dimensions of using SNA within monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems that aim to support both learning and accountability.

Whilst violence against women and girls (VAWG) by intimate partners has received increasing research attention in the last decade, non-partner violence in public spaces remains an underexplored area. With rapid urbanization, violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public spaces, including on public transport, has become increasingly relevant. Global initiatives, such as UN Women’s ‘safe cities and safe public spaces’ have begun unpacking harmful gender and social norms, which both excuse and legitimize violence and drive bystander inaction and survivor underreporting. However, there is a dearth of literature on the social norms that sustain VAWG in public spaces in South Asia, particularly in the Sri Lankan context. The following commentary will first make the case for a social norms approach to understanding and tackling VAWG in public spaces. Moving forward, alongside prevalence studies, we hope to see further normative research on VAWG in public spaces in Sri Lanka, which can inform programming and interventions that tackle the root causes of violence.

There exist significant inequities in access to family planning (FP) in Kenya, particularly for nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists. Health care providers (HCP), are key in delivering FP services. Community leaders and religious leaders are also key influencers in women’s decisions to use FP. We found limited research exploring the perspectives of both HCPs and these local leaders in this context. We conducted semi-structured interviews with HCPs (n=4) working in facilities in Wajir and Mandera, and community leaders (n=4) and religious leaders (n=4) from the nomadic and semi-nomadic populations the facilities serve. We conducted deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Three overarching themes emerged: perception of FP as a health priority, explanations for low FP use, and recommendations to improve access. Four overlapping sub-themes explained low FP use: desire for large families, tension in FP decision-making, religion and culture, and fears about FP. Providers were from different socio-demographic backgrounds to the communities they served, who faced structural marginalisation from health and other services. Programmes to improve FP access should be delivered alongside interventions targeting the immediate health concerns of pastoralist communities, incorporating structural changes. HCPs that are aware of religious and cultural reasons for non-use, play a key role in improving access.

Child marriage is associated with adverse health and social outcomes for women and girls. Among pastoralists in Kenya, child marriage is believed to be higher compared to the national average. This paper explores how social norms and contextual factors sustain child marriage in communities living in conflict-affected North Eastern Kenya. In-depth interviews were carried out with nomadic and semi-nomadic women and men of reproductive age in Wajir and Mandera counties. Participants were purposively sampled across a range of age groups and community types. Interviews were analysed thematically and guided by a social norms approach. We found changes in the way young couples meet and evidence for negative perceptions of child marriage due to its impact on the girls' reproductive health and gender inequality. Despite this, child marriage was common amongst nomadic and semi-nomadic women. Two overarching themes explained child marriage practices: 1) gender norms, and 2) desire for large family size. Our findings complement the global literature, while contributing perspectives of pastoralist groups. Contextual factors of poverty, traditional pastoral lifestyles and limited formal education opportunities for girls, supported large family norms and gender norms that encouraged and sustained child marriage.

Introduction Child marriage, formal and informal unions when one or both spouses are under 18, disproportionately affects adolescent girls over boys. It has serious consequences for girls' health, wellbeing, and development. Little is known about the ways in which girls' agency and contextual social norms – unwritten rules of (un)acceptable behaviour in a group – intersect to affect child marriage practices. This paper investigates norms and agency as facilitators and obstacles to adolescent girls' marriage in Somaliland and Puntland. Methods Participants (n = 156) were men and women living in Somaliland and Puntland. We conducted 36 qualitative semi-structured individual interviews (12 men and 24 women). We also held 15 focus group discussions (8 in Somaliland and 7 in Puntland) with 6–10 people each (n = 120). Mixed focus groups were conducted with men and women together, and were segregated by age. Results Technology and economic deprivation were important contextual factors in explaining the prevalence of child marriage. Participants reported that adolescent girls' and boys' increased agency contributed to, rather than decreased, child marriage. Access to technology expanded adolescents' freedom from their parents' control. Adolescents used that freedom within the existing system of social norms that rewarded early (as opposed to later) marriage. Conclusions Effective interventions that aim to reduce marriage among adolescents living in Somalia (where marriage can be a protective strategy) should integrate a social norms perspective to avoid increasing adolescent-led marriage.

There is increased recognition that incorporating a social norms approach provides insights for understanding corporal punishment and/or discipline (CPD). This review seeks to explore how the literature analyses social norms and CPD in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We searched eight electronic databases, Google Scholar, Google and institutional websites, including articles in LMICs which examined social norms and CPD perpetrated by family members or teachers. Data was extracted, assessed for quality and analyzed according to key themes. Of 21,708 articles from academic databases and 92 from other sources, 37 studies were included. We observed heterogeneity in study design, and in the definition and measurement of social norms. In the majority of studies, social norms supporting CPD were either harmful or, at times, protective. The review also finds that gender, age, power hierarchies and changes such as conflict, migration and modernization may influence norms on CPD. CPD interventions should be evaluated over longer periods and with consideration to the continuum of violence between homes and schools. Future research on CPD should (1) theorize and define social norms more clearly; (2) examine both harmful and protective norms linked to CPD; (3) explicitly examine perpetration of violence across the home-school continuum.