From Evidence to Action: Designing Locally Responsive Interventions to Transform Health and Socio-economic Outcomes of Adolescents

This auxiliary session will reflect on preliminary findings from the Nigeria Survey on Gender Norms, Behaviours, Attitudes and Wellbeing, implemented by the Policy Innovation Centre with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This study was conducted in 12 states in Nigeria, across the 6 geo-political zones, to spotlight an often-overlooked, vulnerable population of very young adolescents aged 10–14 years, providing critical insights into how gender norms, behaviours, attitudes, and wellbeing outcomes are shaped during early adolescence across Nigeria.

Discussions will explore how evidence from very young adolescents, parents, communities, stakeholders, and social norms experts can inform the design of locally sensitive interventions that address harmful beliefs and practices affecting adolescents and families, while promoting positive masculinities, girls' empowerment, healthy relationships, improved health-seeking behaviours, and inclusive participation in social and economic life. Through reflections from researchers, practitioners, policymakers, media actors, and communication experts, the event will highlight strategies for engaging adolescents, parents, religious and traditional leaders, and other influential reference groups in co-creating contextually relevant and scalable SBCC interventions. In doing so, it will provide a platform for advancing evidence-informed, Africa-led, and community-driven approaches to sustainable gender-transformative social and behavioural change programming.