The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 aims to achieve gender equality as part of the 5th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Yet, the way to reach this goal remains under-researched – particularly in rural, conflict-affected communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This paper uses the donorfunded, community-driven reconstruction programme ‘Tuungane’ as the foundation on which to analyse changes in gender norms in the context of a ‘hybrid social order’, defined as the interplay between ‘modern’ norms (state and non-governmental institutions); religious (church institutions) and traditional (institutions based on customary law).