Amidst a myriad of societal challenges, Nigerians have been charged to recalibrate existing social norms as a way of fostering meaningful development in the country.
This charge was made by speakers at the just concluded 2023 Social Norms Conference, convened by the Nigeria Social Norms Learning Collaborative, SNLC, a community of practice of over 100 members that focuses on enhancing social norms programming and research in Nigeria.
One of the speakers, Halima Buba the programme manager of the SNLC, said social norms are at the core of the myriad of problems Nigeria is facing and such have to be addressed.
“A lot of the things that we do, in terms of promoting development outcomes, whether it’s in health or education, are heavily influenced by these social norms, a lot of which are harmful. So, what we wanted to do was, let’s have a joint conversation, with all the different people that are part of this network, from those who are implementing programmes, to those who are members of the communities themselves, and the beneficiaries of these programmes,” she said.
Ms. Halima Buba added that many more people “are realizing the need for intentional designs aimed at social behaviour change, and it’s why it makes this conference a prime time”.
For Doctor Raihanah Ibrahim, Programme Director of SNLC, there was no better approach to dealing with the issue of negative social norms in Nigeria than reexamining the existing strategies and approaches.
She asserted; “We’ve been implementing many interventions for years, and the evidence tells us that, we can continue to bring interventions to vulnerable groups, but the extent to which they take it and how well it succeeds will depend on us knowing that they are social beings……. primarily we have policymakers here, we have researchers and people that are implementing programmes. We have governments and ministries, for them to come and listen and understand. So that as they are designing that policy, structuring that programme, they make sure that they’re thinking about the people; and they’re thinking about how those people think, and plan already for those things that will come to happen…”.
Also adding to the conversation, a social policy expert, Doctor Prince Agu in an interview with Voice of Nigeria lamented that many social norms were hindering Nigeria from achieving the SDGs.
He deplored the negative attitude of absenteeism from work, especially amongst health workers at Primary Health Centers in Nigeria.
According to Doctor Prince Agu, these negative norms are limiting and hindering Nigeria from achieving its sustainable development goals, and SDGs. He says, therefore, that Nigeria should pay attention to what researchers are doing, especially in the academia, to have evidence-informed strategies.
The conference which brought together development partners, people from academia, government representatives, and community and religious leaders had as its theme, “Norms shifting: Cutting-edge innovations for Health, Education and Gender Equality; Towards achieving sustainable development goals”.
Members of the SNLC include Solina Center for International Development and Research, SCIDaR, USAID, FHI360, CHAI, BA-N, University of Abuja, Bayero University, Kano, and a host of others.
The SNLC said the conference sought “ to explore Norms shifting, with cutting-edge innovations for Health, Education and Gender Equality” in Nigeria.
