Phase 2 Evaluation Reports
The results are in! Tipping Points’ RCT baseline evaluation, measuring the rates of child marriage, adolescent girls’ agency and social norms in Bangladesh and Nepal demonstrate the key drivers of child, early and forced marriage in Tipping Point program areas, and contain recommendations for policy and practice.
Understanding the Root Causes of Child Marriage: Baseline Executive Summary from the Tipping Point Evaluation in Bangladesh and Nepal (Spanish, French, Arabic)
Baseline Report- Nepal
Emory University, in collaboration with Care USA, Care Nepal, and Interdisciplinary Analysts, is leading an impact evaluation of the Tipping Point approach in Nepal. The baseline study found that in program areas, even girls in school were at risk of being married early if perceived to be disobedient – for example by roaming around their village “without purpose” or interacting with boys. Restrictive norms around girls’ mobility, interacting with boys, and participating in leisure activities outside the home intensify during adolescence to guard against’ expected reputational damage. Norms are somewhat in flux, especially among educated families, but despite this, girls face limitations in their ability to participate in decisions about the timing of marriage and choice of spouse. Collective action among adolescents is in a nascent stage, but there are some adult stakeholders who are committed to supporting such activity.
Baseline Report- Bangladesh
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), in collaboration with Care USA and CARE Bangladesh, is leading an impact evaluation of the Tipping Point approach in Bangladesh. In program areas, there were high rates of child marriage reported, and girls’ aspirations for when they will get married is at odds with their reality. The majority of girls accepted gender-inequitable attitudes, including control by their family about their mobility and other aspects of their lives. Girls rarely negotiate marriage, since social norms related to girls’ voice and decision-making would lead to girls’ opinion being ignored. Girls’ interaction with boys outside of family was also restricted and the result of violating this norm could be early marriage. The study recommends building girls’ movement for collective action in favor of girls’ rights and community sensitization to girls’ rights, both of which are important components of the Tipping Point Phase 2 package.
Social Norms Finding Brief
This brief presents the combined findings from baseline evaluation in Nepal and Bangladesh on the five social norms on which Tipping Point programming focuses. The findings from the social norms’ data suggest that as soon as girls hit puberty, they experience more restrictive norms and their own sensitivity to sanctions from families and community members leads to girls upholding these norms in their behavior. There are some signs of flexibility in repressive norms restricting girls’ lives and options, especially when it comes to flexibility in interactions, mobility and decision about marriage for girls in school settings or in order to pursue education. However, perceived threats to a girls’ virginity or reputation as “chaste” that affect her marriageability acts as a push factor towards child marriage. However, girls depicted confidence to come together for a common purpose. The Tipping Point Initiative seeks to tap this confidence to engage girls in movement building to demand their rights while facilitating a supportive environment of increasingly positive norms and a network of allies to shift harmful and restrictive norms.
Social Norms Findings (Arabic, French, Spanish)
Phase 1 Studies
Cultural Context of Child Marriage in Nepal and Bangladesh
Cultural Context of Child Marriage in Nepal & Bangladesh
The Tipping Point Community Participatory Analysis Study was designed to deepen understanding of the contextual factors and root causes driving the prevalence of child marriage in particular regions of Nepal and Bangladesh. The three main areas of inquiry offer insights into the vulnerability to child marriage, the specific drivers of the practice, and the dreams and reactions of adolescents affected by child marriage.
Global Findings Bangladesh Findings Nepal Findings Methods Brief Policy Brief
Phase 1 Evaluation Reports
Phase 1 Evaluation – Bangladesh
Tipping Point’s approach to social norm change and girls’ empowerment in Bangladesh demonstrated that key activities that disrupt traditional social norms in safe, public environments are effective in shifting attitudes. The project piloted new ways of operationalizing social norm change programming by focusing on positive messages about girls rather than the negative outcomes of child marriage.
Full Report Executive Summary Program Recommendations Policy Recommendations
Phase 1 Evaluation – NepalIn just a few years, Tipping Point has made significant progress in mobilizing advocates for girls’ rights and in shifting social norms related to child marriage in Nepal. Although the successes of Tipping Point to date have not fully overcome the many barriers girls continue to face in realizing their potential and achieving agency in key life decisions. There are successes that hold promise for social norm change and girls’ empowerment.
Full Report Executive Summary Program Recommendations Policy Recommendations
Tipping Point invested in a series of workshops and transformative experiences for staff to support their skills in personal reflection about gender. Tipping Point staff employed ongoing self-reflection around gender, power, sexuality, values, practices, and action that model anti-oppression (based on gender, caste, and other group identities).
Outcome Mapping Report- Phase 1
This report presents the analyses and syntheses of the Outcome Mapping change stories that were collected in Bangladesh and Nepal during Phase 1 of the Tipping Point. Together, the stories offer a glimpse into the process of change observed at the community level. The progress markers suggest that the project has been effective at rapidly empowering girls in terms of finding their voices and standing up for themselves.
The SenseMaker component of Tipping Point’s Phase 1 evaluation helped to validate certain aspects of the project’s Theory of Change and provided new areas of exploration. SenseMaker enabled greater depth of analysis about girls’ lived experiences of gendered social norms – resulting in a better understanding of different subgroups’ perceptions of adolescent girls, the challenges they face, and how they resolve these challenges.