#2 POLICY LESSONS ON EMPOWERING ADOLESCENT GIRLS GENDER INNOVATION LAB FEDERATION EVIDENCE SERIES Authors - Daniel Halim • Diego Ubfal • Rigzom Wangchuk GENDER INNOVATION LAB FEDERATION The Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) Federation is a World Bank community of practice coordinated by the Gender Group that brings together the Bank’s five regional GILs: Africa (AFR), East Asia and Pacific (EAP), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MNA), and South Asia (SAR). Together, they are conducting impact evaluations of development interventions to generate evidence and lessons on how to close gender gaps in human capital, earnings, productivity, assets, voice and agency. With over 188 impact evaluations in 66 countries completed to date, the GIL Federation is building the evidence base for governments, development organizations, and the private sector to increase uptake of effective policies that address the underlying causes of gender inequality. Adolescent girls face multiple challenges that marriage, and the share of girls reporting sex against restrict their horizons. They have to make decisions their will in comparison to girls in control communities.2 about employment and fertility at an early age with The Africa GIL evaluated a similar program in Sierra limited access to formal education and under restrictive Leone during the 2014 Ebola epidemic, which social norms. Domestic responsibilities limit their time in demonstrated the protective effect of safe spaces school and educational achievement, in turn curtailing during a crisis.3 The study shows that in areas where girls had access to the clubs, the drop in school their ability to enter the labor force. The GIL Federation enrollment was half as large as that in areas where girls is generating rigorous evidence on what works, and did not have access to the clubs. In severely affected what does not, in empowering adolescent girls. This areas, the program generated a reduction in the time note presents evidence on five key findings. girls spent with men and an increase in time they spent at school and engaged in income-generating activities. It led to a complete reversal of the impact that the Ebola FINDING 1. CREATING SAFE SPACES FOR epidemic had on pregnancies in severely affected GIRLS CAN FACILITATE THE control areas. The study also finds that the impact of the intervention was driven by younger girls (ages 12-17), IMPLEMENTATION OF EMPOWERMENT while older girls in the treatment group (ages 18-25) PROGRAMS were more likely to report unwanted sex and Studies of the Africa GIL show that creating safe spaces transactional sex than girls of a similar age in the control for girls where they can receive job or life skills training group. The study argues that men shifted their attention and complementary interventions is an effective policy to older girls as younger girls were less available. It is across a variety of contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa.1 An worth noting that these increases in unwanted and influential randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted transactional sex for older girls did not translate into an in Uganda by the Africa GIL and academics finds increase in pregnancies, probably due to the fact that significant effects of a multifaceted program that the program also led to an increase in the use of provided skills transfers in adolescent clubs serving as contraception. safe spaces for girls. The study finds that four years after the intervention, adolescent girls in treated Preliminary results from RCTs the Africa GIL is finalizing communities were more likely to be self-employed, and in Uganda, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan indicate there was a sharp reduction in teen pregnancy, early multifaceted programs that create safe spaces for girls are effective either in terms of promoting girls’ education economic, sexual, and reproductive health outcomes or in terms of dampening the negative effects of a crisis or relationships that will set them on a path to healthy and conflict. However, an evaluation of a similar program in productive adulthood. The Africa GIL conducted an Tanzania does not find any impact on these outcomes.4 RCT to evaluate the Sisters of Success (SOS) program Qualitative research suggests that the lack of effects in Liberia, which aimed to support girls’ transition into can be linked to resource constraints affecting the adolescence and adulthood by delivering life skills quality of implementation. Club meetings and trainings training through mentors.7 Girls aged 12-15 in the were held in public spaces, with lower-quality materials; treatment group were matched with a volunteer woman mentors were not appropriately trained; and supervision mentor from their community who delivered a life skills was less frequent, which led to lower participation curriculum focused on building social and emotional among girls. skills. The control group was not offered any intervention. FINDING 2. CASH TRANSFERS OR The program led to improvements in girls’ interpersonal SCHOLARSHIPS ARE EFFECTIVE AT KEEPING relationships with peers and parents and increases in their educational attainment (both in primary school GIRLS IN SCHOOL AND DELAYING MARRIAGE completion and secondary school enrollment) four years Financial resources labeled for girls’ education (in the after the program. These impacts were already form of conditional cash transfers or scholarships) can observed the first year after the program and persisted positively affect girls’ schooling outcomes. When girls more than four years after the end of the program. They stay longer in school, they usually marry at an older age were detected in both survey data and administrative and reduce their fertility. records. These effects were concentrated among the younger girls (ages 12-13 at baseline), suggesting that In the Philippines, the EAP GIL evaluated the long-term supporting girls as they are transitioning into impacts of a national conditional cash transfer program adolescence may yield greater impacts. No effects targeted at mothers of girls ages 12-14.5 The transfers were observed on sexual activity or pregnancy. were randomly allocated at the barangay level (administrative unit). The study shows that girls whose The LAC GIL supported an RCT in Brazil to measure the mothers received the conditional cash transfer program effects of a peer-led life skills training focused on for 1.5 years experienced reductions in fertility and reproductive health and goal setting.8 High school delayed marriage until their twenties, in comparison to students served as peer educators to disseminate girls whose mothers lived in control areas not selected knowledge. Different selection criteria to choose these for the transfers. peer educators were randomized across schools using social network data elicited at baseline. In one-third of In Niger, the Africa GIL studied a three-year scholarship treatment schools, peer educators were selected program targeting girls in middle school as part of the according to their network centrality. In another third of Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic treated schools, the most popular students, according Dividend (SWEDD) project. The RCT finds that the to their peers’ ranking, served as educators. In the program improved girls’ educational outcomes, remaining schools, students chosen by the school reduced their likelihood of dropping out of school, administration disseminated information. Overall, the postponed marriage, and increased their life intervention significantly increased contraceptive use, satisfaction.6 Girls in villages assigned to receive the reduced teenage pregnancy, and increased intended program were 53 percent less likely to drop out of post-secondary school enrollment. Because different school and 49 percent less likely to be married than types of peer educators reached different students, girls in villages not assigned to receive the program. effects differed by treatment arm. Notably, the treatment had smaller impacts when peer educators were selected by the school rather than by one of the FINDING 3. LIFE SKILLS TRAINING WITH network-based methods. MENTORS AND PEERS CAN IMPROVE GIRL’S Finally, an RCT by the EAP GIL tested two versions of a EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT socio-emotional skills training program teaching growth Several factors influence whether girls complete mindset and self-management in Indonesia. The more secondary school, avoid teenage pregnancy, and intensive version of the program, which was designed to develop the life skills, attitudes, behaviors, and help students integrate lessons learned into their daily lives and learn from their peers, improved girls’ resilience and challenge-seeking on a task-based were enrolled in grades 7 and 8 across 109 schools measure. It also increased the number of study prior to the onset of the pandemic. Adolescents from 73 strategies used by girls and boosted their aspirations to schools were randomly assigned to participate in the pursue vocational education.9 program, while adolescents in the other 36 schools served as a control group. The evaluation finds that the FINDING 4. PHONE-BASED OUTREACH CAN phone outreach was associated with a 9 percent BE A LOW-COST AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO increase in adolescent motivation and aspirations IMPROVE ADOLESCENT’S MOTIVATION AND across all genders. The program mitigated the reduction in university aspirations for girls who suffered ASPIRATIONS more from this than boys during the pandemic.11 The economic and educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had adverse effects on Another low-cost alternative is the use of text messages. adolescent well-being around the world. Low-cost The LAC GIL conducted a pilot study in Ecuador where interventions, such as phone-based outreach, have sexual and reproductive health education was proved to be effective at mitigating those effects. implemented via text messages.12 In line with Finding 3, the program used peers to send the information, and In Bangladesh, the SAR GIL conducted an RCT to was successful at reducing teenage pregnancy and estimate the effects of a phone-based outreach increasing adolescent girls’ self-reported educational program designed to foster a growth mindset among aspirations as well as school continuation. adolescents to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic on their motivation.10 Adolescents in the study FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Diego Ubfal dubfal@worldbank.org 1818 H St NW Washington, DC 20433 USA https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/gender ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This brief is a product of collaboration between the World Bank Gender Group and the Gender Innovation Labs. It was prepared by Daniel Halim, Diego Ubfal, and Rigzom Wangchuk with key inputs from Diana Arango, Elizaveta Perova, and Rachael Pierotti. It was copy-edited by Leslie Ashby. Other contributors include Lourdes Rodriguez Chamussy, Maria Emilia Cucagna, Isis Gaddis, Markus Goldstein, Jacobus Joost De Hoop, Forest Brach Jarvis, Hillary C. Johnson, Lili Mottaghi, Michael B. O'Sullivan, Laura B. Rawlings, Javier Romero, Jayati Sethi, and Emcet Tas. The World Bank GILs and the GIL Federation are supported by the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE), a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank and supported with generous contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. GILs are supported by the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE). The UFGE is a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank supported with generous contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. ENDNOTES 1 World Bank. 2020. GIL Top Policy Lessons on Empowering Adolescent Girls. Africa Gender Innovation Lab, World Bank. GIL Top Policy Lessons on Empowering Adolescent Girls. 2 Bandiera, Oriana, Niklas Buehren, Robin Burgess, Markus Goldstein, Selim Gulesci, Imran Rasul, and Munshi Sulaiman. 2020. Women's Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 12(1): 210-59. 3 Bandiera, Oriana, Niklas Buehren, Markus Goldstein, Imran Rasul, and Andrea Smurra (2019). The Economic Lives of Young Women in the Time of Ebola: Lessons from an Empowerment Program. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8760. 4 Buehren, Niklas, Markus Goldstein, Selim Gulesci, Munshi Sulaiman, and Venus Yam. 2017. Evaluation of an Adolescent Development Program for Girls in Tanzania. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7961. 5 Dervisevic, Ervin; Elizaveta Perova, and Abhilasha Sahay. 2021. Long-Term Impacts of a Short Exposure to CCTs in Adolescence: Evidence from the Philippines. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 9617. 6 Giacobino, Hélène, Elise Huillery; Bastien Michel, and Mathilde Sage. 2022. Schoolgirls Not Brides: Secondary Education as a Shield Against Child Marriage. Working Papers DT/2022/01, DIAL. 7 Africa GIL. 2016. Sisters of Success: Measuring the Impact of Mentoring and Girls Groups in Supporting Girls' Transition into Adolescence and Adulthood, in Liberia: Full Length Baseline Report. World Bank. 8 Baumgartner, Eric, Emily Breza, Eliana La Ferrara, Victor Orozco, and Pedro Rosa Días. 2021. The nerds, the cool and the central. Peer education and teen pregnancy in Brazil. Preliminary Results, June 6 2021. 9 Johnson, Hillary, Daniel Pinzón Hernandez, Kali Trzesniewski, Taufik Indrakesuma, Renos Vakis, Elizaveta Perova, Noël Muller, Samantha De Martino, and Diego Catalán Molina. 2020. Can Teaching Growth Mindset and Self- Management At School Shift Student Outcomes and Teacher Mindsets? Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial in Indonesia. The World Bank. 10 Baird, Sarah, Jennifer Seager, Shwetlena Sabarwal, Silvia Guglielmi, and Maheen Sultan. 2020. Adolescence in the Time of COVID-19: Evidence from Bangladesh. Policy Brief, The World Bank. 11 Seager, Jennifer, T.M. Asaduzzaman, Sarah Baird, Shwetlena Sabarwal, and Salauddin Tauseef. 2022. Gender, Growth Mindset, and Covid-19: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh. Review of Economic Analysis, 14(2), 183-219. 12 Cuevas, Facundo, Marta Favara, and Megan Rounseville. 2015. 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