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Assessment Of Overseas Labor Migration Systems In Bangladesh, Sigma Ainul, Eashita Haque, K.G. Santhya, Ubaidur Rob

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Bangladesh is a significant labor-sending country, with about 7.8 million Bangladeshis working abroad. Major destinations for migrant workers are the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Female migrants represent 12 percent of the migration flow, with a majority engaged as domestic workers. Migration to GCC countries is characterized by short-term temporary migration, migration of low- and semi-skilled workers, laborers with low literacy level, debt-financed migration, and often migration through unofficial channels. The overseas labor recruitment industry often leaves migrants susceptible to human trafficking, forced labor, and modern slavery. Also, many migrants return empty-handed and with huge debt. The Population Council in …

Role Of Debt In Overseas Labour Migration In India, K.G. Santhya, Snigdha Banerjee, Basant Kumar Panda, A.J. Francis Zavier, Avishek Hazra, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Population Council, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, undertook a multicomponent study to better understand the relationship between debt and overseas labor migration from India. The study shed light on: levels and patterns of household indebtedness among migrant households, with a special focus on households with overseas migrants; cost of overseas labor migration from India and the role of debt in financing overseas migration; role of debt in migration-related decisions; differences in work-related choices and experiences and financial vulnerabilities migrant workers experienced by household indebtedness; and migrant workers’ …

Addressing Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Women And Children Through Prevention And Reintegration Approaches: Lessons From Bangladesh And India, K.G. Santhya, Sigma Ainul, Snigdha Banerjee, Avishek Hazra, Eashita Haque, Basant Kumar Panda, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report of 2021 stated that 6.3 million people were in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) on any given day worldwide. Asia and the Pacific region (which includes South Asia) were host to more than half of the global total of forced labor, including those in CSE. Bangladesh is one of the three main countries of origin for trafficked persons in South Asia. India has been identified as a source, destination, and transit location for trafficking of forced labor, including CSE. Though governments in both countries have made commitments to prevent and combat …

Ethical Recruitment And Employment In The Construction Industry In India: Perspectives And Experiences Of Workers And Micro-Contractors, K.G. Santhya, A.J. Francis Zavier, Snigdha Banerjee, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In India, the construction industry is the second-largest employer, with 51 million workers currently employed. Contracting and subcontracting has contributed to the rise of intermediary labor contractors, who provide migrants with information about labor markets and bring them to construction sites for work. Engagement in physically demanding low-skill jobs, low wages, harsh working conditions, and often deplorable living arrangements characterize the lives of many migrant construction workers. The Population Council, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, undertook a qualitative study to explore the nature of the labor supply chain …

Promoting Safe Overseas Labour Migration: Lessons From Ask’S Safe Migration Project In India, K.G. Santhya, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shilpi Rampal, Avishek Hazra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

More than a quarter of all overseas Indians resided in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in 2020. Migration to Gulf countries is dominated by unskilled and semi-skilled workers who work on a contract basis and who must return home once their contract expires. The Indian government has introduced measures to promote safe overseas migration for work, but labor exploitations in the India-GCC migration corridors are widely documented. The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) in partnership with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) supported the Association for Stimulating Know-how (ASK) in pilot-testing a project to build a safe …

Economic Opportunities For Refugees: Lessons From Five Host Countries, Md. Noorunnabi Talukder, Abdullah Al Mahmud Shohag, Eashita Haque, Md. Irfan Hossain, Joseph Falcone, Ubaidur Rob

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The majority of refugees around the world are in protracted refugee situations, living in exile for at least five years with no sign of a durable solution. There are three possible durable solutions: repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Repatriation remains the main durable solution, but the circumstances should be conducive for return to the country of origin. In the meantime, local integration gives refugees some certainty about what to do with their lives. Local integration is a process with three interrelated dimensions: legal, economic, and social. This report examines the level and extent of local integration of refugees in terms …

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 …

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 …

Getting Girls Back To School In Kenya: The 4ts ('Trace, Track, Talk And Return') Initiative Implementation Report, George Odwe, Chi-Chi Undie, Ann Gachoya, Truphena Kirongo, Fredrick Kiiru, Jane Njogu

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Covid-19 pandemic led to devastating economic and social disruptions globally including in the education sector. The pandemic disrupted access to both sexual and reproductive health services and safe spaces. As a result, many girls faced vulnerabilities that inhibited access to basic education, including risks of child marriage, early pregnancy, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation/cutting, sexual exploitation, and child labor. The negative impact of Covid-19 on girls' education underscores the need for interventions addressing the effect on school re-entry and retention. Kenya has a favorable policy environment for supporting retention within, and re-entry into, schools for vulnerable girls. Notable core …

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.

The Business Case For Social And Behavior Change For Malaria With Applications For Côte D’Ivoire And Tanzania, Breakthrough Research

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

While social and behavior change (SBC) investments are considered critical to improving health-seeking behaviors, gaps in information on the costs and impacts of SBC interventions have resulted in an incomplete picture of the value of SBC interventions, their contributions to social and health outcomes, and potential cost savings from implementing SBC programming. To address these gaps, the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) tasked Breakthrough RESEARCH with creating a business case for SBC in malaria. This document summarizes the findings from this activity, including a synthesis of SBC effectiveness and cost literature and cost-effectiveness modeling applications for Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire.

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 …

Covid-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Among Young People In Port Said And Souhag, Egypt: A Gender Perspective, Monica Maher, Mohamed Ramy, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Elizabeth Tobey, Aparna Jain

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes findings from the Evidence Project, led by the Population Council and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), from a survey conducted with 241 young men and women aged 18–34 in Egypt who had been receiving COVID-19 information via WhatsApp. The survey measured their COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

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 …

The Imagen Story: A Framework For Restoring Indigenous Girl Societies, Kelly Hallman, Lisa Polen, Katey Peck

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Indigenous Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Network (IMAGEN) builds upon long-standing Native cultural traditions, providing platforms for intergenerational transmission of matrilineal knowledge. Girl Societies recognize the unique responsibilities held by and challenges facing Native girls, thus offering culturally grounded, Indigenous-led systems of support.

Improving Evidence On Women's Groups: A Proposed Typology And Reporting Checklist, Sapna Desai, Thomas De Hoop, Leigh Anderson, Bidisha Barooah, Tabitha Mulyampiti, Ekwaro Obuku, Audrey Prost, Howard White

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Women’s groups are widely implemented and researched, particularly in South Asia and Africa. However, there is no consistent approach to describing their varied implementation models, which hinders construct validity and accurate interpretation of evidence. This paper proposes a typology and reporting checklist to support transferability of evidence across models and settings.

Bangladesh: Covid-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices & Needs—Responses From Three Rounds Of Data Collection Among Adolescent Girls In Districts With High Rates Of Child Marriage, Sajeda Amin, Ubaidur Rob, Sigma Ainul, Md. Irfan Hossain, Forhana Rahman Noor, Iqbal Ehsan, Mehnaz Manzur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

From April 20–30, 2020, during a nationwide lockdown, the Population Council Bangladesh conducted the first round of a rapid phone-based survey on COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The survey randomly selected girls who had provided phone numbers during enrollment in a skills-building program that began before the pandemic. The survey’s objective was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent lives and to design programs that would contribute to protecting girls and meet social distancing guidelines imposed by the government. Phone interviews were conducted with 479 girls living in the districts of Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, and Sherpur who were participants in …

Experiences Among Adults And Adolescents During The Covid-19 Pandemic From Four Locations Across Kenya—Study Description, Timothy Abuya, Karen Austrian, Adan Isaac, Beth Kangwana, Faith Mbushi, Eva Muluve, Daniel Mwanga, Thoai Ngo, Mercy Nzioki, Rhoune Ochako, Jessie Pinchoff, Ben Tidwell, John Wanyungu, Corinne White

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

To control the spread of coronavirus, the COVID-19 National Emergency Response Committee (NERC) in Kenya, chaired by the Ministry of Health (MOH), has implemented prevention and mitigation measures. To inform the Government of Kenya’s shorter- and longer-term response strategies, the Population Council COVID-19 study team utilizes rapid phone-based surveys to collect information on knowledge, attitudes, practices and needs among a longitudinal cohort of heads of household sampled from existing prospective cohort studies. The first was carried out across five Nairobi urban informal settlements; the baseline survey (n=2,009) was conducted March 30–31 with subsequent follow-up surveys conducted April 13–14 (n=1,764), May …