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Evidence-Informed Planning And Action In Central Asia: Learnings From The Tajikistan Adolescent Wellbeing And Health Pilot Project, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To address adolescent health and wellbeing in Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Population Council used a hybrid human-centered (HCD) and evidence-based program design to engage adolescent girls, boys, and caregivers in a guided process of defining key issues and program areas. The design informed the development of a first-of-its-kind program model for AKF and in Tajikistan: coordinated community-based groups for adolescent girls and boys, caregivers' groups, and an institutional stakeholder community of practice in Tajikistan. Design and implementation experiences established "proof of concept" as a basis to expand the approach across the country and region. The pilot generated …

Learning Loss Among Adolescent Girls During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Rural Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Md. Irfan Hossain, Sigma Ainul

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Poor learning remains a central challenge in Bangladesh despite considerable progress in advancing schooling access and reducing gender gaps in education. The learning crisis is feared to have been exacerbated during extended school closures and limited alternative opportunities for schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief summarizes findings on learning loss among adolescent girls during the pandemic in rural Bangladesh.

Findings From The Violence Outcomes In Covid-19 Era Study (Voces-19): Baseline Results, Silvana Larrea-Schiavon, Lina López-Lalinde, Isabel Vieitez Martínez, Ricardo Regules, Juan Pablo Gutiérrez, René Nevárez, Cristina Macgregor, Pablo López, Nicole Haberland, Thoai Ngo

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report presents findings from the baseline survey of the Violence Outcomes in COVID-19 Era Study (VOCES-19). The study, conducted by Population Council Mexico in collaboration with the National Institute of Youth and the National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health aims to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying mitigation measures on the experience and perception of violence among 15–24-year-olds living in Mexico, as well as its effects on other social, economic, and health, related outcomes. The primary objectives for this first survey round were to gather baseline information on several outcomes of interest, assess differential …

Resultados Del Estudio Sobre Violencia En La Era Covid-19 (Voces-19): Línea Base Reporte, Silvana Larrea-Schiavon, Lina López-Lalinde, Isabel Vieitez Martínez, Ricardo Regules, Juan Pablo Gutiérrez, René Nevárez, Cristina Macgregor, Pablo López, Nicole Haberland, Thoai Ngo

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Este informe presenta los resultados de la encuesta basal del estudio VOCES-19. El estudio, realizado por el Population Council México en colaboración con el Instituto Nacional de la Juventud y el Centro Nacional de Equidad de Género y Salud Reproductiva, tiene como objetivo comprender el impacto de la pandemia de COVID-19 y las medidas de mitigación que la acompañan en la experiencia y la percepción de la violencia entre las y los jóvenes de 15 a 24 años que viven en México, así como otros impactos sociales, económicos y relacionados con la salud. Los objetivos principales de esta primera ronda …

Conceptual Framework Of The Drivers Of Child Marriage: A Tool To Guide Programs And Policies, Stephanie Psaki, Andrea J. Melnikas, Eashita Haque, Grace Saul, Christina Misunas, Sangram Kishor Patel, Thoai Ngo, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief presents a simplified framework to provide key entry points for understanding which drivers of child marriage may be most important in particular contexts. Decision-makers such as researchers, donors, and program practitioners can use the framework to help design programs and policies tailored to these contexts.

Harnessing Data To End Child Marriage: Summarizing Learnings To-Date, Stephanie Psaki, Momoe Makino, Christina Misunas, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Fatima Zahra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes key findings from five papers that examine child marriage and interventions to address it. While the findings from each of the papers are briefly noted, the brief focuses on the importance of context in understanding the drivers and impact on child marriage. Based on key findings, the brief offers cross-cutting recommendations for research and programs.

Adolescent Girls And Covid-19: Mapping The Evidence On Interventions, Sarah Blake, Miriam Temin, Tara Abularrage, Nihal Said

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

With the COVID-19 crisis continuing to evolve, evidence on the effectiveness of short-term emergency-oriented responses and long-term mitigation strategies is expanding but still limited. There are, and will continue to be, substantial evidence gaps on programming to address risk across outcomes of importance to adolescent girls. More evidence is needed to slow the risks posed by the pandemic for this subpopulation, which can help guide gender- and age-responsive prevention and impact mitigation investments. Evidence from approaches delivered in other unstable contexts may offer important lessons for decision-making in the current context. Recognizing this, the Population Council conducted a structured review …

Impact Of Community-Based Girl Groups, Miriam Temin, Craig Heck

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Programs increasingly use community-based girl groups (CBGGs) to address risks and empower adolescent girls, but evidence on their impact is not always accessible to decision makers. A closer look at 30 CBGG programs in low- and middle-income countries found that CBGGs had the greatest reported success in improving health and gender attitudes and beliefs, while their effect on health behavior and status is mixed. Program implementers should consider CBGGs as a way to facilitate girls’ empowerment, with complementary measures to engage community members and to promote enabling environments for greater program impact. Increased interest and investment in CBGGs should be …

More Than Brides Alliance—Marriage: No Child’S Play, Endline Evaluation Brief, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes key results from the endline evaluation of the More than Brides Alliance (MTBA) project “Marriage: No Child’s Play” (MNCP) in India, Malawi, Mali, and Niger. The MTBA consists of partners Save the Children Netherlands, Simavi, Oxfam Novib, and the Population Council, along with 25 local implementing partners. The MNCP project—which took place from 2016 to 2020—aimed at being holistic and targeting pathways to child marriage on multiple levels simultaneously, treating communities as either having the full MNCP package or no intervention. The Population Council’s MNCP evaluation was designed to estimate program impact and trends among girls at …

Intentional Design: Reaching The Most Excluded Girls In The Poorest Communities—A Guide For Practitioners And Advocates, Judith Bruce, Sophie Soares

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Intentional Design guide is a sourcebook that offers step-wise technical guidance for utilizing the Intentional Design approach, an evidence-based model for the design of girl-centered programs that generates a cycle of information collection and analysis.

The tools outlined in this guide have been applied in sites in 44 countries. Twenty-one detailed field reports—including an extensive discussion of the Abriendo Oportunidades program in Guatemala—set the scene in each context by describing key challenges and problems faced, present how tools were used, and explain the eventual resolutions of the Intentional Design process.

Promises To Keep: Impact Of Covid-19 On Adolescents In Kenya, Presidential Policy And Strategy Unit (Kenya), Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Around the world, reports have highlighted the educational, health, and societal challenges that people have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few reports, however, have exclusively covered the effects on adolescent girls and boys, especially in Kenya. Given the limited data on the impact of the pandemic on adolescents, this study set out to collect data and outline the challenges facing Kenyan adolescents in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Kenya, adolescents aged 10 to 19 years comprise about 24 percent of the country’s population. This study captured data on school enrollment, experiences of sexual and gender-based violence, time spent …

More Than Brides Alliance (Mtba) : Rapport D’Évaluation Finale, Andrea J. Melnikas, Grace Saul, Michelle Chau, Neelanjana Pandey, James Mkandawire, Mouhamadou Gueye, Aissa Diarra, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Ce rapport final couvre le projet de l’Alliance More than Brides « Le mariage n’est pas un jeu d’enfant » mis en œuvre dans quatre pays: Inde, Malawi, Mali et Niger. Le projet vise à renforcer l’autonomie des filles, à les sensibiliser aux risques du mariage précoce, à améliorer leur accès aux services de santé sexuelle et reproductive et à soutenir les normes sociales favorables à l’éducation des filles, à leur engagement économique et à leur participation aux décisions conjugales. Ce rapport présente les résultats de l’évaluation du projet, notamment les résultats de la dernière année, caractérisée par des adaptations …

More Than Brides Alliance: Endline Evaluation Report, Andrea J. Melnikas, Grace Saul, Michelle Chau, Neelanjana Pandey, James Mkandawire, Mouhamadou Gueye, Aissa Diarra, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This endline report presents findings from the More Than Brides Alliance’s (MTBA) project “Marriage: No Child’s Play” (MNCP) carried out in four countries: India, Malawi, Mali, and Niger. The MTBA project sought to empower girls, raise awareness about the risks of child marriage, improve girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services, and support social norms favorable to girls’ education, economic engagement, and agency in marital decision-making. Results are presented from the MNCP evaluation, including over the final year, which was characterized by significant adaptations in programming and research due to Covid-19. This report explores behavioral outcomes related to child …

Endline Results Brief: What Works To Improve Outcomes For Kenya's Adolescent Girls?, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya is a study that evaluates the long-term impact of a multisectoral intervention targeted at adolescent girls aged 11 to 15 years from Kibera and rural Wajir. The intervention consists of four components: a community-based violence-prevention program, an education conditional cash transfer (CCT), health-focused girls-empowerment clubs, and wealth creation for girls via financial education and savings. A random selection of 6,000 girls were exposed to different components of the intervention. Key results, noted in this brief, are: conditional cash transfers are a key driver of improvement in education outcomes, and of delaying sexual debut and pregnancy in …

The Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya—Executive Summary: Two-Year Follow Up Results, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In Kenya, early pregnancy is a challenge for girls that often has immediate effects on their educational opportunities, future implications for their social, health, and economic outcomes, and immediate and ongoing negative impacts on their children. Early pregnancy is an outcome shaped by a myriad of issues affecting an adolescent girl’s life—including community norms on gender roles, violence, and the social value of girls; barriers to formal education; household poverty; lack of economic independence; experience of violence; and social isolation. For girls to achieve well-being in early and late adolescence, no single-sector intervention—whether it be education, health, wealth creation, or …

Application Of The Breakthrough Research Social And Behavior Change Costing Guidelines To The Rise Ii Project In Niger, Nicole M. Bellows, Lori Bollinger, Rudolph Chandler

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Breakthrough RESEARCH drafted its Guidelines for Costing Social and Behavior Change Health Interventions, in consultation with affiliate Breakthrough ACTION and other programmers, to promote quality social and behavior change program costing studies for a range of uses including budgeting, planning, economic evaluation, and advocacy. In March 2020, Breakthrough RESEARCH began applying the Guidelines to the Resilience in the Sahel (RISE) II program in Niger for a cost-effectiveness analysis through 2022. This report shares findings from application of the Breakthrough Costing Guidelines and provides an example and guidance for social and behavior change researchers and implementers on how these guidelines can …

Early Effects Of The Covid-19 Lockdown On Children In Rural Bangladesh, Momoe Makino, Abu S. Shonchoy, Zaki Wahhaj

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Using data collected through a telephone-based survey in rural Bangladesh during the height of the pandemic, we present evidence on the effects of COVID-19-led lockdown and school closures on children, focusing on three child-related outcomes: time use of children during the school closure, plans regarding children's schooling continuation, and the incidence of child marriages. Our analysis reveals heterogeneity in the effects of lockdown and school closure in terms of the child's gender and the type of shocks. We find a decrease in children's study time and an increase in time spent on household chores during the school closure, and these …

Factors Associated With Depression Among Young Female Migrants And Commercial Sex Workers In Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Girmay Medhin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This research brief focuses on a study that examines the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Ethiopian girls and young women who migrated to urban areas. It also explores factors associated with depression, including demographic characteristics and the timing and pattern of migration.

Positioning Community-Based Girl Group Programs For Success: Lessons Learned From The Population Council's Technical Assistance Partnership With Unfpa-Mozambique's Rapariga Biz, Miriam Temin, Arune Estavela, Craig Heck, Natalie Jackson, Joana Mendes

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Population Council provided technical assistance and strengthened capacity for Rapariga Biz, a large-scale UN program in 20 districts across Nampula and Zambezia provinces in Mozambique. The program was established to reduce child marriage and early pregnancy through a set of multisectoral interventions. The partnership between the Council and UNFPA-Mozambique generated useful lessons regarding the opportunities and challenges of using the community-based girl groups (CBGG) model in low-resource settings, especially when implemented at scale. In CBGG programs, girls and young women meet regularly with a leader (e.g., a mentor) who uses a variety of pedagogical methods to address sexual and …

Building Assets Toolkit: Developing Positive Benchmarks For Adolescent Girls—Asset Cards [Arabic], Judith Bruce, Sarah Engebretsen, Kimberly Glazer

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This document contains the Building Assets Toolkit’s Asset Cards (110), set of Age Cards (age 6 to 20), and Program Planning Worksheet (sample provided). The Age Cards are to be printed out and placed according to the instructions. The Asset Cards are to be printed out and cut in half. Blank Asset Cards are provided to create customized assets. The Building Assets Toolkit is an approach for developing programs for specific segments of girls that will prepare them to better face the challenges of growing up. It will help program managers understand the needs of the girls in their community, …

Building Assets Toolkit: Developing Positive Benchmarks For Adolescent Girls—Instruction Guide [Arabic], Judith Bruce, Sarah Engebretsen, Kimberly Glazer

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

English Summary:
The Building Assets Toolkit is an approach for developing programs for specific segments of girls that will prepare them to better face the challenges of growing up. It will help program managers understand the needs of the girls in their community, engage stakeholders at different levels and with different viewpoints, and build concrete and meaningful programming for adolescent girls. The toolkit contains all the materials needed to help make a preliminary assessment of the assets a girl should acquire and the age by which she should acquire them. This document contains the Building Assets Toolkit’s List of …