Adaptive Management: Learning and Action Approaches to Implementing Norms-shifting Interventions

For norms-shifting interventions, flexible, adaptive monitoring and learning systems and processes are needed to increase the likelihood that programs achieve and sustain change. Adaptive management, an intentional approach to making decisions and adjustments in response to new information and changes in context, allows projects to respond to real-time implementation experiences, such as the emergence of early adopters or opposers to new ideas and potential new behaviors, even before behaviors and norms change community-wide. By monitoring these incremental shifts, adaptive management can strengthen the program, and ensure that it is moving in the intended direction.  Adaptive management engages a learning mindset, welcoming opportunities to modify or redesign program strategies to reduce obstacles and, most importantly, to provide incentives for innovation in response to complex community environments. This brief highlights adaptive management approaches used and learning gained throughout implementation of two Passages Project-supported interventions during the period of 2015-2020: Masculinite, Famille et Foi and Growing Up GREAT!.