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Good practice Imported

Voices for Change (V4C) — DFID-Funded Social-Norms Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria

Nigeria · Lagos · See the Nigeria profile · See the Lagos profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 42% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A four-year UK-funded social-marketing programme reached young Nigerians in four states with a 'Purple' brand to shift norms on women's voice, decision-making and violence against women; 89% of surveyed youth improved in at least one target area.

89 %
Young people showing improved attitudes/behaviour in at least one normative area (2017)
2.4 million
Estimated people showing improved attitudes/behaviour (2017)
48 %
Young people recognising the Purple campaign brand (2017)
Voices for Change (V4C) — DFID-Funded Social-Norms Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria

Details

Maturity
Discontinued
Promoter
UK Department for International Development (funder); delivered by Palladium, the Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) and Social Development Direct; independently evaluated by Itad
Period
2013–2017
Keywords
gender norms change, social marketing, community mobilisation, violence against women and girls

Context

Voices for Change (V4C) was a UK Department for International Development (DFID) flagship programme (2013-2017) that worked to shift discriminatory gender norms among young women and men aged 16-25 across four Nigerian states spanning both predominantly Muslim northern states (Kaduna, Kano) and predominantly Christian southern states (Enugu, Lagos).

Activities

Delivered by Palladium with the Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) and Social Development Direct, the programme used integrated social marketing — including a youth-oriented 'Purple' campaign brand across music, fashion and media — alongside direct engagement work, targeting women's voice and leadership, women's role in decision-making, and violence against women and girls.

Results

The final Attitudes, Practice and Social Norms survey (2017) found that 89% of young people in the four target states — an estimated 2.4 million people — showed improved attitudes or behaviour in at least one of the three normative areas. Around 48% of young people (roughly 1.14 million) recognised the Purple campaign brand, and over 70% of those correctly associated it with gender equality; youth exposed to Purple showed larger positive shifts in gender attitudes and practices than unexposed peers.

Conclusions

As a non-randomised, population-level social-marketing programme, the panel-survey design cannot fully rule out other concurrent influences on attitude change, and no independent replication of V4C exists outside Nigeria; no public cost-effectiveness or continuation-after-2017 data were found.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Palladium, Women's Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Social Development Direct, Itad (independent evaluator)

Conditions for success

  • integrated social marketing (music, fashion, media) combined with direct engagement work
  • targeting youth aged 16-25 across religiously and regionally diverse states

Common failure modes

  • non-randomised design cannot fully rule out other concurrent influences on attitude change
  • no independent replication outside Nigeria
  • no public cost-effectiveness or continuation-after-2017 data found

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