Demographic Data for Development: Overview report

The Data for Demographic Development case studies examined the demand for data in four sub-Saharan African countries. The project focused on the views of policymakers, the data they use, the data they want but do not receive, and what they might use but do not request. The underutilization of existing data was explored as was factors that limit the collection, use, and sharing of data. Case studies explored how access to data might be improved. The project’s objective was to create an intimate portrait of access and demand at the country level, thereby complementing the wide array of international initiatives underway. Although the emphasis was on demographic data, the project covered the range of data that are fundamental to developing and assessing policies in the areas of education, health, environment, income, employment, and other measures of development. As explained in this overview report, these case studies explored censuses, surveys, and both budget and service use statistics to determine whether policymakers are getting the data they need to develop sound policies

Measuring Adolescent Well-being : National Adolescent Assessment Cards (NAACs)

Advocacy and action for adolescents have been hampered by the lack of a concrete results framework that can be used to describe the state of the world’s adolescents and serve as a basis for goals and targets. In order to fill this gap, UNICEF, in collaboration with key partners, is facilitating the development of an outcome-based framework that incorporates the key dimensions of an adolescent’s life and a proposed set of globally comparable indicators that will provide a common platform to track the progress of adolescent development and well-being. The domains that have been selected for measurement are: health and well-being, education and learning, safety and protection, participation, transition to work

Demographic data for development in sub-Saharan Africa

More demographic data are being collected throughout the developing world than ever before, but the effective use of that data to further development goals is often lacking. This working paper summarizes case studies on the demand for data in four sub-Saharan African countries, namely Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and Uganda. The project’s objective was to create a detailed portrait of access and demand at the country level, and to determine whether policymakers are getting the data they need to develop sound policies. Common findings across the four countries include an increased external demand from international initiatives that has not necessarily translated into internal demand for data; a missing link between producers and users of data; and a need for data to be presented in user-friendly formats. Next steps are to support initiatives to establish data access as a right, encourage a culture of data-sharing among funders and producers of data, strengthen intermediaries between policymakers and data collectors, display data in accessible formats such as maps, and disaggregate available data to the most useful levels

The contracting world of girls at puberty: Violence and gender-divergent access to the public sphere among adolescents in South Africa

This Population Council working paper describes a participatory mapping project undertaken with single-sex groups of grade 5 and grade 8–9 children in urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. At grade 5, female self-defined community areas were equal to or larger in size than those of males in both sites. However, wide gender divergence in access to the public sphere was found among grade 8–9 children. Although curtailed spatial access, especially in urban areas, is intended to protect post-pubescent girls, grade 8–9 girls reported most spaces in their small navigable areas unsafe. Reducing girls’ access to the public sphere does not increase their perceived safety, but may instead limit their access to opportunities for human development

Identifying sources of adolescent exclusion due to violence: Participatory mapping in South Africa

Adolescents in post-apartheid South Africa lead lives that are filled with new opportunities yet overshadowed by rampant violence and crime. The presence of multiple and simultaneous forms of violence and the systemic lack of safety are experienced most acutely by adolescents—in particular, adolescent girls. High levels of violence and crime within the community are coupled with violence within the home and schools. The Population Council’s Transitions to Adulthood Program examines the particular factors that shape adolescents’ life chances and choices. In South Africa, Council researchers have studied how economic literacy and life skills education affect young men and women who are economically and socially disenfranchised and at high risk for HIV infection. To take advantage of skills programs, young people must have access to safe spaces—in the home, school, and community. Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 30 explores Council initiatives to create safe spaces for adolescents and use community mapping, allow adolescents to influence community-based solutions, and translate adolescent knowledge into improved livelihoods

Exposure to the thin beauty ideal : Are there subliminal priming effects?

Objective: Previous research suggested that exposure to the thin beauty ideal propagated by the media is associated with body dissatisfaction and the development of disordered eating. Given recent suggestions regarding the role of automatic processes, we aimed to enhance our understanding of automatic, unconscious responses to body pictures and the association with the internalization of the thin ideal and the severity of eating disorder symptoms. Method: An affective priming task with body pictures of different weight as primes and a normal-weight body picture as target, which had to be evaluated with regard to attractiveness and desirability, was administered to healthy women with either subliminal prime presentation (Experiment 1) or conscious presentation (Experiment 2). Results: Subliminal presentation did not affect the evaluation of the normal-weight tar-get, although strength of evaluative shifts was significantly associated with internalization of the thin ideal. In contrast, the conscious presentation of the ultra-thin prime decreased and of the obese prime increased desirability and attractiveness ratings of the target. Discussion: Prevention strategies focusing on the critical evaluation of the thin ideal are important. Future studies are warranted to enhance our understanding of automatic, unconscious processes in women experiencing eating disorders

The prevention and management of HIV and sexual and gender-based violence: Responding to the needs of survivors and those-at-risk

The Population Council seeks to understand the social, economic, political, and physical context of risks for sexual and gender-based violence and HIV. Among the top priorities of Council research are supporting and evaluating efforts to prevent violence and HIV, including creating safe spaces for adolescent girls, and working with men and boys to change gender norms within the community; and comprehensively responding to the needs of survivors (including those who are HIV-infected) by strengthening health systems and integrating services. The purpose of this guide is to provide practical guidance on the steps necessary to establish and strengthen sexual violence (SV) services within existing public health facilities, improve linkages to other sectors, and engage local communities around issues of sexual violence. It includes tips, resources, and tools that will help partners and stakeholders design, implement, and evaluate SV programs

Adolescents and Youth in Pakistan 2001-2002: A Nationally Representative Survey

Published by the Population Council\u27s Islamabad office, this is the first comprehensive survey of Pakistani youth. The report provides an unprecedented view of young people\u27s experiences with and attitudes about education, employment, families, and marriage. The report findings confirm the large differences in the current situation of adolescents and youth, males versus females, from different strata of residence and economic status. Addressing these requires government intervention, changes in attitude, and input from the media, women and youth groups, and members of civil society

Our future: a Lancet commission on adolescent health and wellbeing.

Unprecedented global forces are shaping the health and wellbeing of the largest generation of 10 to 24 year olds in human history. Population mobility, global communications, economic development, and the sustainability of ecosystems are setting the future course for this generation and, in turn, humankind. At the same time, we have come to new understandings of adolescence as a critical phase in life for achieving human potential. Adolescence is characterised by dynamic brain development in which the interaction with the social environment shapes the capabilities an individual takes forward into adult life.3 During adolescence, an individual acquires the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and economic resources that are the foundation for later life health and wellbeing. These same resources define trajectories into the next generation. Investments in adolescent health and wellbeing bring benefits today, for decades to come, and for the next generation. Better childhood health and nutrition, extensions to education, delays in family formation, and new technologies offer the possibility of this being the healthiest generation of adolescents ever. But these are also the ages when new and different health problems related to the onset of sexual activity, emotional control, and behaviour typically emerge. Global trends include those promoting unhealthy lifestyles and commodities, the crisis of youth unemployment, less family stability, environmental degradation, armed conflict, and mass migration, all of which pose major threats to adolescent health and wellbeing. Adolescents and young adults have until recently been overlooked in global health and social policy, one reason why they have had fewer health gains with economic development than other age groups. The UN Secretary-General's Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health initiated, in September, 2015, presents an outstanding opportunity for investment in adolescent health and wellbeing. However, because of limits to resources and technical capacities at both the national and the global level, effective response has many challenges. The question of where to make the most effective investments is now pressing for the international development community. This Commission outlines the opportunities and challenges for investment at both country and global levels (panel 1)