Faith to Action Network joined global researchers, practitioners and behaviour change experts at the SBCC Summit 2026 in Panama, contributing evidence from the Interfaith Adolescent Health Hub (IAHH) Project on how faith-led approaches can shift harmful social and gender norms affecting adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
During the summit, we shared emerging evidence through two high-level sessions, demonstrating how interfaith collaboration is creating new opportunities for social and behaviour change while positioning faith actors as trusted partners in advancing adolescent health.
Learning from Implementation: Faith Leaders as Catalysts for Norm Change
Faith to Action Network participated in a fireside session titled “What’s Changing Our Thinking: Key Insights from Implementation,” alongside other faith-based organizations including the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) and Tearfund. The session created a space for organizations implementing social norms programmes to exchange practical experiences, reflect on challenges, and share lessons emerging from implementation.
Drawing on the Interfaith Adolescent Health Hub Project in Kenya, Faith to Action Network explained why engaging faith leaders is central to shifting deeply rooted social and gender norms that influence adolescent sexual and reproductive health. The project’s approach is grounded in the recognition that faith leaders are among the most trusted voices within communities and are uniquely positioned to open conversations that have traditionally remained silent.
Among the key implementation insights shared was a finding that challenged conventional assumptions. Rather than encountering widespread resistance to discussions on adolescent SRHR, the project found that communities were largely waiting for someone they trusted to initiate the conversation. Parents waited for faith leaders to speak, faith leaders waited for community signals, and young people waited for trusted adults to create safe spaces for dialogue. The real barrier was not opposition it was silence.
The session also highlighted how visible support from leaders across different faith traditions creates social permission for communities to engage. When Christian, Muslim and traditional faith leaders publicly champion the same messages, conversations become safer, community approval becomes visible, and harmful norms begin to shift.
Another important lesson emerging from implementation was that technical knowledge alone is insufficient. Faith leaders require language they can confidently use, theological grounding, and messaging framed around family wellbeing, dignity, responsibility, care and protection. This values-based framing proved more effective than relying solely on public health terminology.
Reflecting on implementation, Faith to Action Network shared that future programming should begin with social norms mapping, invest earlier in creating visible moments of community support, engage parents and faith leaders together, and measure perceptions of community approval alongside individual knowledge and attitudes.
Advancing Evidence Through Interfaith Collaboration
The Network also participated in a panel discussion titled “Sacred Alliances: Evidence-Based Guide to Advancing SRHR through Social Norms Programs with Religious and Cultural Leaders from Kenya and Nigeria.” The panel brought together Faith to Action Network, the Centre for Communication and Social Impact (Nigeria), and Yemaya Health to share practical evidence on engaging faith actors in social norms change.
Representing the regional perspective, Faith to Action Network presented findings from the Interfaith Adolescent Health Hub Project, which is testing the effectiveness of interfaith approaches compared with single-faith programming in shifting harmful social and gender norms affecting adolescent girls and young women. The project seeks to understand not only whether interfaith collaboration accelerates norm change, but also which population groups are most influenced through this approach.
Emerging evidence shared during the panel highlighted that interfaith collaboration creates broader social permission for change by making positive community support more visible. Preliminary findings suggest that bringing together leaders from different faith traditions strengthens trust, amplifies consistent messaging, and helps overcome the perception that support for adolescent SRHR is isolated within individual religious communities.
The presentation further demonstrated that faith leaders function as critical “permission structures” within communities. Their public endorsement encourages parents to initiate conversations with adolescents, increases community confidence, and creates enabling environments where young people can access accurate information and services. Rather than persuading communities to care about adolescent wellbeing, the evidence suggests that programmes should focus on making existing community support visible while equipping trusted leaders with the knowledge and confidence to act.
Strengthening the Global Evidence Base
Faith to Action Network’s participation at the SBCC Summit reinforced the growing recognition that faith actors are not barriers to social and behaviour change but essential partners in advancing community health and wellbeing.
By sharing implementation learning alongside emerging evidence from the Interfaith Adolescent Health Hub Project, F2AN contributed to global discussions on what works in faith-led social norms programming and strengthened the case for investing in interfaith collaboration as a practical pathway for advancing adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights.
As the project continues its learning journey, Faith to Action Network remains committed to generating evidence that supports faith communities, policymakers and development partners to design more effective, context-sensitive approaches that place trusted community voices at the centre of sustainable social norms change.
