Gender integration in social and behavior change

This document is a review of recent social and behavior change-focused program literature focusing on the integration of gender considerations into health and non-health social and behavior change interventions. The review revealed eight promising practices: employing a gender perspective throughout the program cycle to improve outcomes; synchronizing gender strategies to ensure inclusion of men and women, boys and girls; addressing gendered health disparities that affect service use; reducing harmful traditional practices; ensuring community involvement and accountability for promotion of gender equality; considering gender during emergency preparedness and response; accounting for intersecting gendered vulnerabilities that influence health and development outcomes; and building organizational capacities and systems for gender integration through a continuous learning approach. These gender integration practices were found to be operationalized at different levels of the Socio-Ecological Model for Change and were mutually reinforcing. When employed, these practices can strengthen gender integration and mainstreaming efforts within social and behavior change programming