Option 1: 12+ Model

We recommend that the programme be built upon the 12+ programme approach for adolescent girls.

The 12+ pilot programme had the following core components that lends itself to being a springboard for future programming with an older age cohort:

 Girl mentors between the ages of 18-25 that provide training modules to adolescent girls 10-12 years of age, although their role can be strengthened to focus more intently on financial education and career trajectories. This recommendation builds off a recent report89 by the Girl Hub, which suggests that training modules for 12+ programmes could potentially be more focused on developing financial skills and building career paths. For older girls, training modules could be better used to teach girls about savings and lending, mobile phone banking, and imparting employable skills.

89 Wolday (2012). Option 1: 12+ model Community engagement Safe spaces Training mentors O p tio n 1

Option 2:Training and savings Group savings (VSL) Enterprise/

vocational training O p tio n 2

Option 3: Cash transfers Option 4: Graduation model

Asset transfers O p tio n 3 Innovative “add ons” Innovative cash transfer mechanisms Micro-franchising Bridging schools

Strengths: Builds personal empowerment and self- efficacy; social capital, and financial literacy; addresses informal institutional constraints.

Weaknesses: does not build economic (physical or

financial capital); does not address formal institutional constraints adequately

Strengths: Builds personal empowerment and self- efficacy; social capital, and financial capital for better off and included girls; addresses informal institutional constraints and can address some formal ones Weaknesses: does not build physical capital; very

poor and vulnerable girls can miss out

Strengths: Builds personal empowerment & self- efficacy; social capital, and financial capital for all girls; addresses informal institutional constraints can address some formal institutional constraints.

Weaknesses: does not build physical capital

Strengths: Builds personal empowerment & self-efficacy; social capital, and financial and physical capital for all girls; addresses informal institutional constraints; can address formal institutional constraints.

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 Girls are given safe spaces where they can engage with mentors and peers. It is a space to

develop their self-confidence, social capital and life skills.

Building the programme off of the 12+ strategy also has distinct programmatic advantages:

 The programme will be aimed at 13-15 year olds that have completed 12+, so they will have potentially developed a close relationship with the mentors and other girls in the safe spaces, as well as capabilities through the trainings and support provided in 12+. If the programme works with girls who have not been through the 12+ programme, the programme will need to provide new entrants   with   a   “12+   Catch   up,”   which could be a 3 month accelerated programme to provide the basic foundation for girls to move into the programme. This might even be a useful refresher for all entrants to the programme.

 It is sensible to build upon an existing government initiative that has been tried and tested. It allows for government (and wider donor) buy-in to the initiative, as well as enabling scalability of the programme.

Option 1 proposes that, at a minimum, the 12+ programme could be adapted for 13 – 15 year olds, creating a 15+ model. This would require a strong push on addressing informal institutional constraints

and household constraints,  which  start  severely  limiting  girls’  opportunities   in  this  age   range.  The   12+   pilot evaluation recommended increasing community engagement. Based on the findings from this study, we confirm this as a critical modification of the original model, and would propose that a strategy for increasing household and community engagement be developed for this initiative as part of this core option. We discuss possible components of this strategy below.

This research provides evidence that that poverty within the family is linked to an inability for girls to save and invest in education (which becomes more expensive as girls progress through primary and into secondary), low self-confidence in themselves and their futures, and a reinforcement of their ‘domestic’  roles. This can leads girls to finding alternative, precarious sources of income (e.g. support

from sexual predators). Providing assets directly to girls is one possible way of tackling this constraint, but girls are children, and families have the responsibility for investing in them; this responsibility should not be replaced, but encouraged and supported. International experience shows that if mothers have reliable sources of income and savings, they are most likely to invest in the continued education of their children. It is therefore important that the programme develop mechanisms to engage and support mothers, particularly in accessing microfinance services.

Participants in the 12+ programme have voiced the desire to further engage their mothers through the programme.90 Working with parents (predominantly mothers) to build their own economic capital and educate them about the importance of investing in daughters will open up doors for adolescent girls. Partnering with a microfinance institution to provide microfinance services to mothers is a possible way of engaging the entire household. As a part of the partnership, field staff would reinforce Girl Hub messages to parents about the importance of investing in the education of their children, particularly girls. An appropriate microfinance institution would need to be identified within the geographic areas where the programme operates.

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opportunities for adolescent girls. The research clearly  shows  that  ‘the  feminisation’  of  domestic  work  

and  the  ‘masculinsation’  of  paid work puts girls in a position of compliance to societal expectations of their roles, rather than making them active agents. While the programme can directly benefit participants’   lives,   a   more   enabling   environment   for   girls   in   general   must   be   created   for   wider,   sustainable impact.

This wider engagement Community engagement can take on many forms, including working directly

with husbands and fathers so they have a vested interest in the economic lives of the girls within their families; working with formal and informal institutions that work with girls to ensure that there is greater focus on both gender and age among their programmes; engaging with the private sector to shift  existing  policy  about  hiring  adolescent  girls  (as  employees  and  apprentices);  enabling  a  more  ‘girl- friendly’   market   environment,   where   girls   have   greater   visibility   and   presence   within   local   markets;   using spaces, such as microfinance groups, to communicate key messages about the importance of investing in girls. These options need to be further explored during detailed design – but all will involve a concerted   effort   to   ‘conscientise’   the   community   at   large   about   the   present,   and   potential,   value   of   investing   in   girls’   educational   and   professional   opportunities.   There are clearly opportunities here to capitalise on the success and innovation Ni Nyampinga brings to the field of adolescent girls empowerment.

In particular, the report has highlighted the importance of engaging men and boys so they are not excluded, but rather active agents, in enhancing opportunities for adolescent girls. Finding ways to

engage with male counterparts (be it through “community  conversation”  type  meetings, safe spaces, or technical training) should be an area explored further during design, and building on the new 12+ focus on engaging the wider community in supporting girls. A study by FinScope91 demonstrated that engaging males within the VSLAs resulted in greater support of the initiative. The Graduation programme in India showed that, by holding regular meetings with the men, men began to see the productive asset as a ‘family  enterprise,’  and  felt  less  threatened  by  their  wives’  economic  participation.    

In document Adolescent Girls Economic Opportunities Study in Rwanda (Page 61-63)