Safe and smart savings products for vulnerable adolescent girls in Kenya and Uganda: Evaluation report

The decision to engage in the development of girl-friendly savings accounts was made as part of the Population Council’s work with adolescent girls in Kenya. In June 2008 the Council and MicroSave Consulting started the Safe and Smart Savings Products for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls. Based on the market research and prior experience with developing programs for adolescent girls, a product concept for a group-based savings account was developed, in which the group model was used to address the legal constraints of minors not being able to hold individual accounts. In Kenya and Uganda, two financial institutions were identified, and the pilot test was launched with a target of 500 girls for each institution. The overall aim of the project was to develop, pilot test, and roll out individual savings accounts to girls belonging to girls groups. These accounts combine methods in designing financial products for low-income clients and a “safe space” program model that is supportive of adolescent girls. This evaluation report aims to further the understanding of the social, economic, and health effects of participating in these activities on the girls themselves

The Nia Project: Baseline report

The onset of puberty and menarche is a particularly vulnerable time for girls, when external pressures are exacerbated by their lack of knowledge of their bodies, their rights, and the implications of their decisions, and by their inability to manage puberty and adolescence safely and comfortably with appropriate menstrual health and hygiene management (MHM) products. Although several programs have previously been developed to address girls’ MHM needs globally, few have been evaluated, and where evidence does exist the results have been mixed. In collaboration with ZanaAfrica, the Population Council is evaluating the Nia Project, a set of interventions for adolescent girls in Kilifi County, Kenya. This evaluation analyzes the effect of distribution of Nia brand disposable sanitary pads and provision of reproductive health education (i.e., facilitated sessions and the Nia Teen magazine) on girls’ education and reproductive health outcomes. This report presents data from the baseline survey of the Nia Project, providing a multidimensional description of a sample of the girls who will be participating in the Nia Project and the schools they attend

Meserete Hiwot ( Base of Life ): Supporting married adolescents with HIV prevention and reproductive health in rural Ethiopia

To better understand the lives of adolescents in rural Ethiopia, researchers conducted a survey of adolescents in Amhara Region. The study found that many girls experienced early, unwanted arranged marriages, resulting in early unwanted sexual initiation and pregnancy, as well as social isolation in new marital homes. Based on the findings of this study, the Population Council and the Ethiopian Ministry of Youth and Sports created a program to support girls who are married early, with a view to increasing their social networks, improving their ability to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS, and supporting their reproductive health. This program brief reports on the survey data collected before the intervention took place. Another survey will be undertaken in the same areas after 30 months of project implementation to measure changes in girls\u27 knowledge, health-seeking behavior, and levels of familial support

The Nia Project—Brief

This brief provides highlights from the Nia Project conducted in Kenya. The study found that while gaps exist in girls’ capabilities, particularly knowledge and attitudes related to menstruation and reproductive health, the Nia Project has the potential to bridge those gaps. The Project is one of the first randomized controlled trials to explore the role of sanitary pad distribution and reproductive health education—individually and in combination—to improve girls’ educational and sexual and reproductive health outcomes. The findings of this study will make a critical contribution to filling an evidence gap in the field of menstrual health and hygiene management, and in doing so will guide education and health policy in this area in Kenya and in the region

Berhane Hewan (\u27Light for Eve\u27): Increasing opportunities to delay marriage and promote schooling

This policy brief describes the findings of a pilot study on girls’ experience of early marriage, education, and sexual behavior in rural Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The brief also discusses efforts in the region to delay marriage and promote girls’ schooling. The Amhara Bureau of Women, Children and Youth Affairs and the Population Council pilot-tested a program to delay marriage and support schooling in rural Amhara Region. The program, entitled Berhane Hewan (Amharic for “Light for Eve”), included community conversations, support for remaining in school, and conditional cash transfers if girls remained unmarried and in school for the duration of the two-year pilot. An evaluation at the end of the pilot showed significant improvements

Increasing opportunities to delay marriage and promote schooling: Results from a baseline survey in rural Tanzania

This research brief describes girls\u27 experience of early marriage, education, and sexual behavior in the Tabora region of Tanzania. Research shows that a considerable proportion of girls married early, have only limited discussions on health issues with their spouses, experience intimate partner violence, and have high unmet need for family planning. Tabora Development Foundation Trust, in partnership with the Population Council, is implementing strategies—including community awareness, support to get girls back into school and keep them there, and conditional transfers—to increase marriage age in the rural Tabora region. The goal is to identify effective, sustainable, and cost-effective approaches to increase the age at marriage and increase educational participation among girls in Tanzania

Building programs to address child marriage: The Berhane Hewan experience in Ethiopia

The development of a context-appropriate program to delay marriage in rural Ethiopia took place over many years and in stages. The program that ultimately became known as “Berhane Hewan” was developed by building an evidence base of understanding on the populations being served and developing partnerships between the Population Council and like-minded agencies with complementary expertise. The Berhane Hewan pilot demonstrated that significant impacts can be made on the social, educational, and health status of adolescent girls in a short period of time, through well designed and implemented support programs. However, high levels of exposure to all project components, make it difficult to ascertain if specific program components were more influential in bringing about change than others. Berhane Hewan has faced challenges in implementation, including budget delays and bureaucratic procedures that hinder effective implementation. Nevertheless, Berhane Hewan, one of the first programs in Africa to have the explicit objective to delay marriage age for girls, remains a groundbreaking and influential program addressing child marriage in Africa, and has paved the way for a second generation of program development on the topic

Evaluation of Berhane Hewan: A pilot program to promote education and delay marriage in rural Ethiopia

The Berhane Hewan Program pilot-tested in rural Ethiopia from 2004–06 was developed to sensitize community members to the dangers of child marriage, prevent early marriage among unmarried adolescents, and provide support for girls who are already married. The program included social mobilization of girls aged 10–19 into groups led by female mentors; support to stay in school or convening of groups outside of school including nonformal education and livelihoods skills; and community-wide conversations on early marriage and reproductive health issues affecting girls. Economic incentives were provided to families who did not marry off their daughters during the project period. Population-based surveys were conducted before the implementation and two years afterward, in both experimental and control areas, to measure changes associated with the program. The impact evaluation focused on social networks and participation; education; marital status; and reproductive health. The Berhane Hewan experiment demonstrates that significant impacts can be made on the social, educational, and health status of adolescent girls in a short period of time, through well-designed and implemented support programs. This is one of the first rigorously evaluated programs to delay marriage in sub-Saharan Africa

Delaying early marriage among disadvantaged rural girls in Amhara, Ethiopia, through social support, education, and community awareness

Ethiopia has extremely high rates of child marriage and an HIV epidemic that disproportionately affects females. In the rural Amhara region, 50 percent of girls are married by age 15 and 80 percent are married by age 18. Researchers conducted a survey of more than 1,800 adolescents in the Amhara Region. Based on the findings, in 2004 the Amhara Regional Bureau of Youth and Sports and the Population Council created the Berhane Hewan (“Light for Eve”) project. Berhane Hewan’s goal is to establish effective mechanisms to protect girls at risk of early marriage and to support adolescent girls who are already married. Between 2004 and 2006, a quasi-experimental intervention was conducted by the Council in the rural Amhara region to compare outcomes between girls living in the program and control areas. As described in Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 20, an evaluation of the intervention provided evidence that early marriage can be prevented through a program that simultaneously addresses the economic and social factors that promote early marriage and increases girls’ access to schooling

Safe and smart savings for vulnerable girls in Kenya and Uganda: The evolving model, lessons learned, and recommendations

To make a healthy and safe transition to adulthood—completing school, remaining HIV negative, avoiding unwanted pregnancies, and finding a meaningful livelihood—adolescent girls require a combination of social, health, and economic assets. The Population Council and partners designed, implemented, and evaluated Safe and Smart Savings Products for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls—a three-part program to build assets through weekly group meetings led by female community mentors. The program included group meetings, financial and basic health education, and a formal savings account. This brief provides a description of the program model and how it evolved from the pilot to the rollout phases from Kenya to Uganda, bank utilization data on the savings accounts, the girls’ feedback on their experiences with the program, lessons learned, and a look ahead