Social Norms and Security and Justice Services for Gender-based Violence in Nepal: Programmatic Implications from a Baseline Mixed-Methods Assessment

Background Gender-based violence (GBV) is highly prevalent throughout the world. Only a small fraction of survivors seek help from security and justice providers (S&J) such as the police or courts, due in part to social norms that discourage help-seeking. Social norms interventions have proven effective in combatting GBV but have not been tested alongside S&J interventions. The Strengthening Access to Holistic, Gender Responsive, and Accountable Justice in Nepal (SAHAJ) project was designed to fill this gap. We provide a comprehensive mixed-methods situation analysis of GBV-related social norms, help-seeking, S&J service provision. Methods The SAHAJ evaluation is a 3-armed, mixed-methods evaluation of the impact of social norms programming alone, S&J programming alone, and combined programming in 17 communities in Nepal. Baseline data included a household survey (N=3830), a sub-study of youth (N=143) and married adults (N=464) in one site and qualitative data collection including interviews with S&J service providers, help-seeking GBV survivors and families (N=68), and focus group discussions with police, youth groups, and school management committees (N=20) in four sites. Descriptive analysis of survey data was triangulated with findings from a modified grounded theory analysis of the qualitative data to elucidate the role of social norms and other barriers limiting help-seeking. Results GBV was perceived to be common, especially child marriage, domestic violence, eve-teasing, and dowry-related violence. Formal help-seeking was low, despite positive attitudes towards S&J providers. Participants described injunctive norms discouraging formal reporting in cases of GBV and sanctions for women violating these norms. Conclusions Norms favoring family- and community-based mediation remain strong. Sanctions for formal reporting remain a deterrent to help-seeking. Leveraging gender-equitable role models, such as female S&J providers, and connecting S&J providers to women and youth may capitalize on existing shifts. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement Strengthening Access to Holistic Gender Responsive and Accountable Justice in Nepal was governed by a consortium led by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) with funding from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office when the funder was named the Department for International Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of VSO or the funder. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Institutional Review Board at Emory University gave ethical approval for this work. Nepal Health Research Council gave ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript