LINEA is an international, multi-pronged project testing how social norm theory can be used to reduce the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (SECA) in regions across the world.
Join the LINEA Network here to get the latest news about LINEA's research and upcoming webinars, as well as updates from LINEA Network members working on social norms and preventing sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
With the second phase of LINEA now in full swing, expect to see more resources and publications posted here soon.
Since 2015, LINEA has hosted more than 35 webinars, featuring the most cutting edge research and practice on preventing sexual exploitation of children and adolescents using a social norms approach. You can see all the previous LINEA Webinar recordings on our YouTube Channel.
We also jointly hosted a webinar series with the Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network at Columbia University, and the recordings are available here.
The Learning Initiative on Norms, Exploitation and Abuse (LINEA) is an international and multi-pronged project exploring how social norm theory can be used to prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents globally. Centring adolescent girls, LINEA aims to provide an alternative to research and programmes, which have traditionally focussed on providing girls with skills and information. Instead, LINEA aims to better understand and address the interdependence of human behaviour and the structural realities that shape the individual experience of adolescent girls. LINEA was established in 2014 and is nested within Gender Violence and Health Centre (GHVC) at LSHTM.
There are three key streams of LINEA’s work which are as follows:
- Contributing to conceptual clarity and theory
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LINEA is working towards gaining deeper conceptual clarity around the issues of sexual exploitation and abuse of young people. This includes two desk reviews, the first of which reviews how child sexual exploitation has been defined and conceptualised over time by researchers, practitioners and international bodies. The second considers existing evidence about how social norms and other structural factors may contribute to the sexual exploitation of children. LINEA is also collaborating with partners to develop and refine a conceptual model of child sexual exploitation and its drivers.
- Producing evidence for using social norm theory to prevent sexual exploitation of children and adolescents
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LINEA has conducted research with adolescent and adult community members in Tanzania and Uganda to examine the norms, expectations and contexts that shape and perpetuate the practice of transactional sex. Through individual interviews and focus group discussions, we are seeking to better understand how transactional sex is understood and conceptualised, and when and if transactional sex is considered “exploitative.”
This research is being used to inform the development of an exciting new multi-component social norms focussed intervention. Using a curriculum and media based approach; the intervention aims to prevent sexual exploitation of children in Tanzania due to transactional sex between older men and adolescent girls.
LINEA has also been conducting research in partnership with Promundo, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Again, the aim is to uncover the norms both fostering and preventing transactional sex relationships in three of Rio’s favela communities. This research is the first of its kind in Brazil, not only due to the subject matter, but also in that it will generate a new scale on Sexual Exploitation Norms (SEN) to measure social norms associated with sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
- Creating a community of practice: The LINEA Network
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LINEA hosts a network of partners in research, programming, policy, advocacy and funding who are using a social norms approach to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of young people. It is a vibrant and open forum for groups and individuals engaging with, or interested in learning about, norms and structural factors driving vulnerability. The LINEA Network hosts regular webinars, providing a platform for the most cutting edge research and initiatives. The Network also organises biennial meetings where selected participants can share their insights and share them within the community of practice.
Join the LINEA Network here to get the latest news about LINEA's research and upcoming webinars, as well as updates from LINEA Network members working on social norms and preventing sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
To watch previous LINEA webinars visit the LINEA YouTube Channel.
You can find more information about LINEA in this introductory webinar:
Ana Maria is LINEA Principal Investigator and project lead. She is also the Director of the Gender Violence and Health Centre.
Marjorie
Pichon
Research Fellow
Marjorie supports various components of LINEA including formative research, leading on communications for the LINEA Network, and coordinating the LINEA sub-studies and pilot evaluation.
Nerissa supports the coordination of the LINEA pilot trial evaluation.
Alice
Witt
Research Assistant
Alice supports the qualitative analysis of the LINEA sub-studies.
Nambusi
Kyegombe
Associate Professor
Nambusi was the Principal Investigator for LINEA’s formative research on transactional sex in Uganda. She is a member of the Gender Violence and Health Centre at LSHTM.
Joyce Wamoyi
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR IN TANZANIA (NIMR, TANZANIA)
Joyce was the Principal Investigator for the formative research on transactional sex in Tanzania. She works at the National Institute for Medical Research in Mwanza, Tanzania.
EVIDENCE BRIEF 1: Systematic review of social norms linked to the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents
Marjorie Pichon, Lottie Howard-Merrill, Ana Maria Buller
June, 2020
EVIDENCE BRIEF 2: Attitudes, beliefs and normative influences linked to transactional sex: Insights from LINEA formative research in Brazil, Tanzania and Uganda
Lottie Howard-Merrill, Marjorie Pichon, Joyce Wamoyi, Nambusi Kyegombe, Caroline Ignacio, Linda Cerdeira, Ana Maria Buller
February, 2022
EVIDENCE BRIEF 3: LINEA intervention development process
Lottie Howard-Merrill, Marjorie Pichon, Revocatus Sono, John Riber, Joyce Wamoyi, Ana Maria Buller
March, 2022
The LINEA meeting is an an opportunity to share practice and knowledge related to social norms and the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, and to network and identify opportunities for collaboration. LINEA meeting participants are made up of experts and new contributors to the field, including academics, practitioners and funders.
1st LINEA Meeting (2015)
The inaugural LINEA meeting was held the 30th of March – 1st April, 2015 in Windsor, UK. Read the full meeting report here.
2nd LINEA Meeting (2017)
The second LINEA meeting was entitled: ‘From Research to Social Change: Exploring Possibilities for Preventing Sexual Exploitation of Children Using a Social Norms Perspective’. The meeting was held on the 16th – 18th October, 2017 in Windsor, UK. Read the full meeting report here.
3rd LINEA Meeting (2020)
The Third LINEA biennial meeting entitled: ‘Preventing the Sexual Exploitation of Young People Using Social Norms: Consolidating Practice and Knowledge, Looking Towards the Future’. The meeting was held virtually on the 12th – 14th October, 2020.
Materials from the Third LINEA biennial meeting are available below:
- Meeting Report
- Agenda
- 1-page timetable
- Participant biographies
- Padlet map of meeting participants
- Additional meeting resources shared on padlet
See below for links to the presentations and videos of panels where available.
Day 1 - Monday, 12th October
Welcome, opening remarks and ice breaker
(Ana Maria Buller, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Panel 1: Consolidating practice and knowledge, looking towards the future
Moderator: Cari Jo Clark, Emory University
Consolidating practice and knowledge: Gender norms, history and change
(Caroline Harper, Overseas Development Institute)
Social norms, health lifestyles, technology use, and COVID-19
(Stefanie Mollborn, University of Colorado Boulder)
(Katherine Stewart, The Economist Intelligence Unit)
(Emily Esplen, Department for International Development)
LINEA Intervention design and feasibility testing
(Ana Maria Buller, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Developing the LINEA Curricula and Their Unique Features
(Lori Rolleri, Lori Rolleri Consulting & Piotr Pawlak, Independent Consultant)
LINEA Iterative Radio Drama Development
(John Riber, Media for Development International & Lottie Howard-Merrill, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
LINEA and Amani Girls Home: Co-creation
(Ana Maria Buller, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine & Revocatus Sono, Amani Girls Home & Veronicah Gimunta, Amani Girls Home)
Day 2 - Tuesday, 13th October
Panel 2: Innovative uses of mass media for social norms change
Moderator: Lottie Howard-Merrill, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Co-producing a podcast to change norms around IPV with Somali refugees in Ethiopia
(Vandana Sharma, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
Evaluating DREAMS’s MTV Shuga through screening episodes in the community
(Natsayi Chimbindi, Africa Health Research Institute & Thembelihle Zuma, Africa Health Research Institute)
(Gemma Ferguson, Equal Access)
(Novatus Urassa, UZIKWASA)
Panel 3: Developing quantitative tools to measure social norms
Moderator: Bryan Shaw, Georgetown University
Cognitive interviews with adolescents in England to develop survey items measuring social norms relating to sexual behaviour, dating and relationship violence and gender
(Rebecca Meiksin, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Measuring social norms and attitudes about age-disparate transactional sex
(Nancy Perrin, Johns Hopkins University)
Development and Measurement Properties of the Intimate Partner Violence Help-Seeking Norms Scale
(Cari Jo Clark, Emory University)
Quantitative proxies for social norms: Interrogating clustering, reference groups, and validity
(Ilana Seff, Columbia University)
Panel 4: Peer influence and women and girls' sexual and reproductive health decision making
Moderator: Ana Maria Buller, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
(Meghna Ranganathan, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Adolescent girls' aspirations and sexual decision-making in Tanzania
(Joyce Wamoyi, National Institute for Medical Research)
Social network analysis, contraceptive choices, and social influence among nomadic women in Kenya
(Leah Kenny, London School of Economics and Political Science)
(Holly Shakya, UC San Diego)
Panel 5: Social norms measurement for practice and policy
Moderator: Gemma Ferguson, Equal Access
(Claire Hughes, Freelance consultant)
(Bryan Shaw, Georgetown University)
Connecting girls’ agency and social norms’ change: Implications for Practice
(Sadhvi Kalra, CARE USA)
Day 3 - Wednesday, 14th October
Pecha Kucha presentations: Remote data collection methods during the COVID-19 pandemic
A real-time analysis of online viewer engagement with a COVID-19 TV Drama
(Venetia Baker, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
(Sadhvi Kalra, CARE USA)
(Michele Decker, Johns Hopkins University)
(Tia Palermo, University at Buffalo & Lusajo Kajula, UNICEF)
(Pinky Mahlangu, South African Medical Research Council)
Life in lockdown: the new reality for Kenyan youth, in their own words, images and sounds
(Sarah Mulwa, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Panel 6: Successes and challenges of interventions that tackle social norms and/or transactional sex
Moderator: Lori Heise, Johns Hopkins University
(Cari Jo Clark, Emory University & Gemma Ferguson, Equal Access)
Understanding the impact of PEPFAR’s DREAMS partnership on transactional sex
(Isolde Birdthistle, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
(Tia Palermo, University at Buffalo & Lusajo Kajula, UNICEF)
(Andrew Gibbs, South African Medical Research Council)
Panel 7: Social norms and masculinities
Moderator: Ana Maria Buller, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
(Kirsten Stoebenau, University of Maryland)
(Lottie Howard-Merrill, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
Changing masculinities: insights on sexual harassment from an evidence review
(Rachel Marcus, Overseas Development Institute)
Mixed methods formative research to develop a social norms scale in the context of transactional sex in favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(Caroline Ignacio, Instituto Promundo)
The Learning Initiative on Norms, Exploitation and Abuse (LINEA) is led from the Gender Violence and Health Centre (GVHC) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
To watch LINEA webinars, visit the LINEA YouTube Channel.