Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Acceptability And Feasibility Of Introducing Strengthened School-Based Sexual And Reproductive Health Information And Services In Accra, Ghana, Terence Adda-Balinia, Philip Teg-Nefaah Tabong, Maya Teye, Philip Baba Adongo, Placide Tapsoba, Harriet Birungi

Reproductive Health

An initial study conducted by Population Council under the Strengthening Evidence for Programming on Unintended Pregnancies (STEP UP) project in 2012 assessed the knowledge and reproductive health needs of adolescents living in selected slums in Brong Ahafo and Greater Accra regions with the view of informing an improvement in adolescent sexual health (ASRH) programming in Ghana. The study concludes that stakeholders generally believed there was the need for enhanced adolescent sexual and reproductive health services in school as the present system of delivering these services were not sufficiently addressing ASRH needs. The use of trained psychologists and health workers was …

Développer Les Compétences De Protection Des Filles: Ensemble D’Outils Pour La Conception D’Un Programme, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Les adolescentes sont devenues une population cible clé pour les initiatives d'autonomisation, de santé et de développement dans les pays en développement. Cette collection d’outils est destinée aux organisations qui se sont engagées à étendre leurs programmes pour atteindre les sous-catégories de filles et jeunes femmes exclues: les filles les plus pauvres dans les communautés les plus pauvres; les filles âgées de 10 à 14 ans non scolarisées et n’habitant pas avec leur père ou leur mère; ou d’autres sous-catégories de jeunes filles qui sont tout simplement susceptibles d’être laissées pour compte. Cet ensemble contient des outils et des exercices …

Addressing Adolescent Girls' Vulnerability To Hiv/Aids: Lessons From The Meri Life Meri Choice Project, Sunil Mehra, Rajesh R. Singh, Vandana Nair, K.G. Santhya, A.J. Francis Zavier

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report details findings from an assessment of the Meri Life Meri Choice (MLMC) project in India, implemented by MAMTA—Health Institute for Mother and Child, with the support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The MLMC project sought to reduce the vulnerability of rural adolescent girls to HIV by enhancing their knowledge about sexual and reproductive matters and equipping them with skills that enable them to address vulnerability to HIV; increasing their utilization of sexual and reproductive health services from the public sector; and developing a supportive environment that enables adolescent girls to adopt protective actions to reduce vulnerability to …

Abriendo Oportunidades Para Alcanzar Mi Plan De Vida: Programa De 5 Meses—14 A 18 Años, Cecilia Garcés, Paola Broll

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Esta es la guía curricular del programa Abriendo Oportunidades del Population Council de Guatemala. Este programa de cinco meses ayuda a las niñas a desarrollar pasos para lograr su plan de vida, en módulos sobre los temas siguientes: llevarse bien con otras mujeres; conocerse y valorarse a sí mismo; autoestima; derechos humanos; aprendiendo a ser mujer; la fertilidad y el embarazo; reconociendo el peligro; y la importancia del ahorro.

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This is the curriculum guide for the Abriendo Oportunidades program of the Population Council of Guatemala. This five-month program helps girls develop steps to achieve their life plan, in modules …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (Agep): Savings Account, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Through the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP), the Population Council and partners implemented a social, health, and economic asset-building program for over 10,000 vulnerable adolescent girls aged 10–19 years in Zambia. The AGEP intervention was comprised of three major components: 1) safe spaces groups in which girls met once a week over the course of two years for training on sexual and reproductive health, life skills, and financial education; 2) a health voucher that girls could use at contracted private and public facilities for a package of general wellness and sexual and reproductive health services; and 3) a savings account …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Research And Evaluation Mid-Term Technical Report—Executive Summary, Karen Austrian, Paul C. Hewett, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Fiammetta Bozzani, Jere R. Behrman, Jean Digitale

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme (AGEP) was an ambitious project directed toward changing girls’ lives in a significant and meaningful way across areas of education, sexual and reproductive health, marriage and fertility, and experience of violence. This Executive Summary of the project’s findings shows that, overall, the AGEP cohort data, and lessons they have generated from the AGEP are rich, nuanced, and important for informing the next generation of programs for adolescents in Zambia and elsewhere. Even though the study is still under way, and the full longer-term effects of AGEP remain to be seen, the information presented in this …

Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya: Qualitative Report, Eunice N. Muthengi, Karen Austrian, Amanda Landrian, Benta Abuya, Joyce Mumah, Caroline W. Kabiru

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya (AGI-K) is currently delivering multisectoral interventions, targeting violence prevention, education, health, and wealth creation, to adolescent girls aged 11–14 in two marginalized areas of Kenya. This report provides a brief overview of the research design and intervention components being delivered in AGI-K, and presents findings from the first round of qualitative data collection intended to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation processes thus far. The findings provide important information about the perceived effects of the program from a diverse set of respondents. Overall, beneficiaries, their parents/guardians, and other key stakeholders value the program and …

Building Girls' Protective Assets: A Collection Of Tools For Program Design, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Adolescent girls have become a key target population for empowerment, health, and development initiatives in low- and middle-income countries. This collection of tools is intended for organizations that are committed to extending their programs to reach excluded subpopulations of girls and young women—whether they are the poorest girls in the poorest communities, the 10–14-year-old girls who are out of school and not living with either parent, or another subpopulation of young girls who are likely to miss out. The collection contains tools and exercises to help programmers translate evidence on “what works” into girl-centered programming. The resources in this collection …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme In Zambia: Qualitative Evaluation Report, Zoe Duby, Chipo Natasha Zulu, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) reaches over 10,000 vulnerable girls 10–19 years old in five urban and five rural sites spread across four provinces in Zambia. The program works to build adolescent girls’ social, health, and economic assets, providing them with key skills and opportunities to help them transition from adolescence to adulthood in a healthy way. This report presents these valuable insight into the views and experiences of girls who were involved in the AGEP program, as well as the perceptions of program mentors, the girls’ parents, and community leaders. In addition, these findings highlight the areas in …

Kenya: Helping Adolescent Mothers Remain In School Through Strengthened Implementation Of School Re-Entry Policies, Esther Lwanga Walgwe, Nancy Termini Lachance, Harriet Birungi, Chi-Chi Undie

Reproductive Health

By applying robust evidence, securing the support of decisionmakers, and engaging stakeholders, STEP UP enabled national and local decisionmakers to better understand the consequences of unintended pregnancy for adolescent girls’ schooling in Homa Bay County, Kenya. STEP UP is playing an important role in informing the implementation of policies within the Kenyan educational sector that will improve educational opportunities for school-age mothers. Through early stakeholder engagement, strong partnerships, the support of implementers and policymakers, effective communication and dissemination strategies, decisionmaker capacity, and the dedication of the adolescent mothers themselves, evidence generated by STEP UP was successfully utilized by key stakeholders. …

Adolescent Sexual And Reproductive Health Situation: Insights From The 2014 Kenya Demographic And Health Survey, Francis Obare, George Odwe, Harriet Birungi

Reproductive Health

The 2015 Kenya National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy recognized the importance of addressing adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs for achieving the country’s development goals. Although estimates from the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) show the country registered improvements in key reproductive, maternal, and child health outcomes, adolescent outcomes likely remain poor given the challenges associated with adequately addressing their sexual and reproductive health needs. This report presents findings of further analysis of the 2014 Kenya DHS on key SRH outcomes among adolescent girls and boys 15 to 19 years old in Kenya. Understanding the …

Abriendo Oportunidades Para Alcanzar Mi Plan De Vida: Programa De 5 Meses—8 A 13 Años, Cecilia Garcés

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Esta es la guía curricular del programa Abriendo Oportunidades del Population Council de Guatemala. Esta guía es para niñas de 8 a 13 años. Este programa de cinco meses ayuda a las niñas a desarrollar pasos para lograr su plan de vida, en módulos sobre los temas siguientes: llevarse bien con otras niñas; conocerse y valorarse a sí mismo; autoestima; derechos humanos; aprendiendo a ser mujer; la fertilidad y el embarazo; reconociendo el peligro; y la importancia del ahorro.

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This is the curriculum guide for the Abriendo Oportunidades program of the Population Council of Guatemala. This guide is for …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Research And Evaluation Mid-Term Technical Report, Karen Austrian, Paul C. Hewett, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Fiammetta Bozzani, Jere R. Behrman, Jean Digitale

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme (AGEP) was a social, health, and economic asset-building program targeting vulnerable adolescent girls aged 10–19. The Population Council, in partnership with the Young Women’s Christian Association of Zambia, successfully implemented the AGEP program from late 2013 to early 2016. The results presented in this midterm report have implications for recommendations on future programming for adolescent girls in Zambia and elsewhere and should be coupled with burgeoning evidence from AGEP and the literature to adapt programming for vulnerable adolescent girls in order to improve impact. While the underlying root causes of girls’ vulnerabilities are interrelated, it …

Methodology: Reaching The Most Vulnerable Adolescent Girls, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The objective of the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme (AGEP) is to provide vulnerable adolescent girls with needed social, health, and economic assets that they can draw upon to overcome their vulnerabilities and expand their opportunities. As a component of the AGEP evaluation, a household census was conducted in 2013 in the areas where the program was to be implemented. The census revealed that a significant percentage of adolescent girls aged 10–19 contend with multiple levels of socioeconomic vulnerability that include—but are not limited to—geographic remoteness, social isolation, living without parents, living in low-income households, and not attending school. The analysis …

Adolescents In Bangladesh: Programmatic Approaches To Sexual And Reproductive Health Education And Services, Sigma Ainul, Ashish Bajracharya, Laura Reichenbach

Reproductive Health

There is a gap in knowledge and understanding of effective adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) programming in Bangladesh, especially programming at scale. Initiatives to address ASRH have been implemented at different times by both the Government of Bangladesh and NGOs, but these activities have often been fragmented and are not well documented or evaluated, making it difficult to know what worked well and what did not. This policy brief presents selected findings from a comprehensive review and analysis of ASRH programming in Bangladesh, carried out by the Population Council’s Evidence Project, with financial support from USAID/Bangladesh, as part of …