Social Analysis and Action is an approach designed to catalyze reflection and exploration to facilitate individual and community actions that support more equitable gender and social norms. It is a facilitated process where individuals and communities explore and challenge social norms and practices that shape their lives and health. The goal is to catalyze community-led change processes where individuals act together to create more equitable social norms and build support for change. The approach involves critical reflection and dialogue, envisioning alternatives to harmful norms, and community action for health and rights. Key elements include transforming staff capacity, conducting gender and situational analyses, using discussion guides, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation to document processes and assess changes in norms, attitudes and behaviors over time.

1. CORE group
October 14, 2016
Social Analysis and Action

2. Social analysis and action
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Norms
Explore & Reflect
Catalyze change
process
Individual and
collective Actions
Social Analysis & Action is an approach,
designed to catalyze a process of
exploration and reflection to facilitate
individual and community actions that
support more equitable gender/social
norms and healthy behaviors.

3. What is a norm?
Equitable gender and social Norms
• What is a gender norm? social
norm?
• How do norms affect health,
nutrition and wellbeing?

4. What are social norms?
Unspoken rules that influences human behavior

5. Why focus on norms?
THE WAY WE USUALLY
PROGRAM…
target individual attitudes,
knowledge, and behavior…
usually through awareness
raising, IEC campaigns,
SBC.
EMERGING EVIDENCE
SUGGESTS…
Individuals’ behaviors may
be more influenced by
what individuals
perceive others think
and do.

6. Social Analysis and Action
• A facilitated process through which individuals and
communities explore and challenge the social norms and
practices that shape their lives and health.
• Goal = Catalyze a community-owned change process
Individuals and communities challenge restrictive norms
Act together to create more equitable social norms
Build community support for the change process
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7. What is the SAA Process?
1) Reflection,
dialogue and
exploration
2) Envisioning
alternatives and
challenging harmful
norms
3) Community-led
action for health
and rights
Three Core Elements:
Community Action and Project Cycle
+ Ongoing Critical Reflection and
Dialogue

8. SAA – a cross sectoral approach
Project Action Cycle - five steps:
1)Transform staff capacity,
2)Reflect with the community,
3)Plan for action,
4)Implement plans, and
5)Evaluate

9. The repeated CRD process leads to:
• Increased understanding of how beliefs, attitudes and
norms may have negative effect on behaviors,
development outcomes
• Opportunity to imagine and discuss alternative ways of
thinking and behaving
• Changes in attitudes and perceptions to support more
equitable social and gender norms and healthier behaviors

10. Theoretical underpinnings of SAA
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11. Minimum set of processes for SAA:
1. Staff capacity transformation
2. Gender and situational analysis
3. Context tailored discussion guide for facilitators
4. Capacity building - skilled Facilitation using Critical
Reflective Dialogue
5. Process of Reflection and Dialogue
6. Monitoring and Evaluation

12. Processes for SAA …
• Staff transformation: A prerequisite to using SAA is building
staff and partners’ own ability to explore and reflect upon their own
social values and assumptions regarding gender and power.
• Gender and situational analysis: Conducting a situational
analysis at the start of a project is highly recommended and basis
for using SAA
• Context tailored discussion guide for facilitators

13. Processes for SAA …
• Skilled Facilitation for CRD:
• surface attitudes, values, perceptions and assumptions
• explore how these attitudes, values and perceptions shape behavior
• reflect on the consequences of those norms and behaviors.
• Continuous Process of Reflection and Dialogue:
• Regular reflection and dialogue (both with staffs and communities) that
focuses on addressing social and gender norms, attitudes and behaviors
• Monitoring and evaluation:
• qualitative, participatory documentation of processes and assessment of
changes.

14. Desired Outcomes of SAA include:
• Improved awareness and facility:- Program staff, collaborating
partners and communities – gender, power, norms
• Equitable social and gender norms - resulting in sector-specific
and cross-cutting behavior change at the household, community
and institutional levels
• More effective programs - resulting in concrete improvements in
the lives of individuals and communities

15. Key elements for a well documented SAA process
• Reflective process in which gender and power are
explicitly discussed
• Values, perceptions, practices and larger changes
occurring in social norms are qualitatively assessed.
• Objectively verifiable measures of status (health,
livelihoods, nutrition…) for individuals and
communities evaluated.

16. Thank you
Please contact Feven Mekuria @ feven.mekuria@care.org or
Mariela Rodriguez @ mrodriguez@care.org for SAA related materials
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