Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique 1. Mozambique at a Glance A. Country context Mozambique is a low-income, conflict-affected girls in Mozambique between now and 2040 could country that stands out among African nations for generate more than an estimated $80 billion in the heightened vulnerability of its adolescent girls additional income for a cost of around $13 billion. (ages 10–19), marked by low school enrolment, high rates of early marriage and childbearing, At the continent level, the “Pathways to Prosperity and limited economic opportunities. The country for Adolescent girls in Africa”1 report estimates exhibits significant disparities across various that similar investments across Africa could dimensions, including gender, rural-urban divides, generate more than $2.4 trillion in additional and socio-economic status. income for a cost of around $200 billion (Ajayi and Koussoubé, 2024).2 Like other African countries, investing in adolescent girls’ empowerment in Mozambique could yield substantial returns through increased productivity, innovation, and economic growth. Estimates suggest that investing in adolescent Figure 1: Cross-country differences in Adolescent girls’ experiences in Africa Low marriage/childbearing, moderate to high schooling High schooling, low work participation High work participation, low schooling High marriage/childbearing, low schooling Moderate levels across all indicators Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original figure for this publication, based on data from USAID’s latest Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com 2 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique B. Key development indicators: 3 45 School enrollment 51.5 44.0 Owns a mobile phone Girls 33.2 61 Marriage and childbearing 73.4 30.0 17 Use mobile phone for Economic engagement 22.3 financial services Girls 21.0 Legal framework index 65 (WBL, 2024) 57 36.8 Use internet Girls Supportive framework 35 21.2 index (WBL, 2024) 24.5 0 20 40 60 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 Mozambique Africa Boys Girls Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original figure for this publication, based on data from USAID’s latest Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com and Women, Business and the Law 2024 https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/reports . C. Key policy opportunities: The “Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent girls The report provides curated evidence on targeted in Africa” report identifies key policy priorities for 4 interventions that can help Mozambique maximize countries as Mozambique where adolescent girls ad-hoc investment in girls’ education and stronger face multiple vulnerabilities: legal and policy frameworks through improved human capital outcomes, reduced child marriage → Improving girls’ educational attainment and gender-based violence, with particular focus → Improving prevention and response to for conflict affected areas. gender-based violence, particularly in schools → Reducing early marriage and teenage pregnancy → Strengthening the legal and policy framework 3 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique 2. Understanding Adolescent Girls’ Pathways A. Different pathways to empowerment Data reveal how adolescent girls in Mozambique follow different pathways to empowerment, aligning with five key profiles identified in the Pathways to Prosperity Report framework (see Ajayi and Koussoubé, 2024). → Grace’s path (In School, Not Working, Not → Chantal’s path (Not in School, Working, Married, No Child): this pathway represents Not Married, No Child): this pathway is the largest group in southern provinces, not prevalent across provinces, being most especially in Maputo Province and Maputo city common in Central (13.5%) and Maputo city (respectively 59.3% and 56.8%). However, this (10.8%). Overall low rates across the country pathway becomes significantly less common for may suggest barriers in accessing economic northern provinces, and is the lowest in Cabo opportunities for girls. Delgado (22.1%). → Aya’s path (Not in School, Not Working, → Imani’s path (In School and Working, Married with Children): this very vulnerable Not Married, No Child): despite not being pathway shows prevalence across the majority predominant in the country, this combination of the provinces with very high rates in Cabo shows considerable variation across provinces, Delgado (27.3%), Nampula (26.2%), Manica with the province of Inhambane having (24.7%), highlighting prevalence of early considerable proportion of girls balancing marriage and adolescent childbearing in the school and work (14.3%). The pathway is very country. low in the provinces of Niassa (1.6%) and Zambezia (2.3%) and Manica (2.2%). → Other (Married or with Child): this pathway is the second largest across all provinces → Mariam’s path (Not in School, Not Working, after Grace’s pathway. This is particularly high Not Married, No Child): this vulnerable in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Sofala pathway remains present in all provinces but (respectively 36.2% and 30.9%) as well in with variations, signaling risk of early marriage Niassa and Central (26.1% and 24.4%). and requiring targeted policy attention. Zambezia is the province with the highest share of girls that are neither in school nor working (27.5%), followed by Central (19.4%) and Niassa (18.5%). 4 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Figure 2: Five pathways for adolescent girls in Kenya Maputo region Maputo city Gaza Inhambane Sofala Manica Nampula Zambezia Niassa Central Cabo delgado 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Grace (In School, Not Working, Not Married, No Child) Imani (In School, Working, Not Married, No Child) Mariam (Not In School, Not Working, Not Married, No Child) Chantal (Not In School, But Working, Not Married, No Child) Aya (Not in School Not Working, Married with Child) Other Married, or with child Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original map for this publication, based on data from USAID’s 2022-2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com 5 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique B. Geographic disparities There are significant disparities across provinces in the rates of vulnerable adolescents (defined here as girls who are out of school and not working, or girls who are married or have children), especially between northern and southern areas: → Northern provinces, including the Figure 3: Province-level vulnerability map indicating percentage of adolescent girls not in school and not working, or married or with children conflict affected areas show alarming high vulnerability rates requiring urgent interventions (Cabo Delgado 74.7%, Niassa 68.5%, Zambezia 65% and Nampula 62.3%) → Other highly vulnerable provinces: also the country’s northern and central- western provinces exhibit concerning rates of adolescent girls’ vulnerability (Manica 60.8%, Central 59.4%, Sofala 50.9%) → Southern provinces: while Gaza province still require urgent interventions because of high vulnerability rates (44.4 %), the provinces of Inhambane and Maputo have less, yet still considerable, alarming rates (41.2% and 26.6%). The urban area of Maputo city has the lowest adolescent girls’ vulnerability rate across the country 80 - 100 (22.4%). 60 - 80 40 - 60 20 - 40 0 - 20 Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original map for this publication, based on data from USAID’s 2022- 2023 ozambique Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com 6 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique 3. Understanding the Gaps A. The gender divide Girls face substantial gender-specific challenges: → School enrolment and retention: overall combining work and school (24.7% of boys vs school enrolment rates show a considerable 5.5% of girls). These patterns may suggest that gender gap between boys and girls (58.2% traditional gender roles influence life trajectory: vs 44.8%). Moreover, there are important boys are pushed toward economic activity while differences in the way both genders engage in continuing education, while girls face higher school: girls are less likely to combine school rates of early marriage/childbearing and are less with work (5.5%) compared to boys (24.7%) likely to participate in the labor market. but they are considerably more likely to be out of school and not working (44.4%) than boys → Marriage and childbearing: marriage and (12.8%). childbearing disproportionately impact girls, with 39.5% of girls either married or with → Economic engagement: boys show overall children (compared to only 6.1% of boys). higher economic participation (53.7%) This stands as a major barrier for girls for compared to girls (16.3%). Moreover, boys continuing schooling and accessing economic are more than four times more likely to be opportunities. Credits: Kelven Dinis Macuinja on pexels 7 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Figure 4: Gender Differences in Adolescent experiences 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No No With With No No With With Child Child Child Child Child Child Child Child Not and Not and Not and Not and Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Adolescent Girls Adolescent Boys Not In School and Not Working 15.70 7.30 3.10 18.20 12.10 0.30 0.10 0.30 Not In School and Working 4.20 1.60 0.80 4.30 24.30 2.20 0.50 2.00 In School and Working 5.10 0.10 0.10 0.20 24.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 In School and Not Working 35.50 1.70 1.20 0.90 33.20 0.00 0.20 0.10 Note: Data for adolescent girls and boys aged 15-19. Source: Original map for this publication, based on data from USAID’s 2022-2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), https://www. dhsprogram.com 8 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique B. The rural-urban divide → School enrolment and retention: figures (13.2% vs 6%). Although the proportion of show a significant gap in girls’ school girls in school and working is not very different enrolment between urban and rural areas across settings, rural girls are almost twice as (respectively 64.2% and 31%). Moreover, likely to be out of school and not working than urban girls are more likely to focus solely on urban girls (55.7% vs 28.5%). their education only compared to rural girls (57.1% vs 26.7%), with a smaller gap for girls → Marriage and childbearing: rural areas show combining school and work (urban 7.1% vs higher rates of early marriage and childbearing, rural 4.3%). with 50.6% of rural girls either married or with children vs 23.8% of urban girls. → Economic engagement: rural girls are more likely than urban girls to be working exclusively Figure 5: Rural-urban differences in Adolescent girls experiences 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No Child No Child With Child With Child No Child No Child With Child With Child Not and Not and Not and Not and Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Rural Urban Not In School and Working 4.40 2.10 0.80 6.00 3.90 0.90 0.70 1.90 Not In School and Not Working 17.30 10.50 3.60 24.40 13.50 2.90 2.60 9.50 In School and Working 4.00 0.10 0.00 0.20 6.70 0.10 0.10 0.20 In School and Not Working 23.80 1.50 1.00 0.50 52.10 1.90 1.60 1.50 Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original map for this publication, based on data from USAID’s 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com 9 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique C. The household wealth divide → School enrolment and retention: wealth gaps poorest girls (65%) are out of school and remain consistent in education with 76.9% of not working compared to only 17.3% of the the wealthiest girls in school compared to only wealthiest girls. This may suggest that the 21.2% of the poorest. Moreover, 13.8% of the poorest girls, despite being more likely to seek poorest girls are out of school and working employment, encounter higher constraints in (compared to only 5.6% of the wealthiest). This accessing economic opportunities. may suggest that economic hardship may act as a barrier to educational progress, as many → Marriage and childbearing: poverty seek for working opportunities instead. dramatically increases marriage and childbearing with 56.8% of the poorest girls → Economic engagement: economic either married or having children compared to participation rates are similar between the just 12.7% of the wealthiest. This disparities wealthiest and the poorest girls (12.9% may have implications for girls’ future vs 15.5%). However, more than half of the opportunities and health outcomes. Figure 6: Differences in Adolescent girls experiences by Household wealth 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No Child No Child With Child With Child No Child No Child With Child With Child Not and Not and Not and Not and Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Top quintile (Richest) Bottom quintile (Poorest) Not In School and Working 4.30 0.10 0.50 0.90 4.90 2.20 1.20 5.50 Not In School and Not Working 11.30 1.30 1.10 3.60 19.70 8.30 2.40 34.70 In School and Working 6.60 0.10 0.10 0.30 1.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 In School and Not Working 65.10 1.90 2.10 0.70 16.90 1.90 0.20 0.40 Note: Data for adolescent girls aged 15-19. Source: Original map for this publication, based on data from USAID’s 2022-2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), https://www.dhsprogram.com 10 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique These patterns reveal how gender, geography, and poverty interact to create multiple, reinforcing barriers for many adolescent girls in Mozambique. The most vulnerable girls—those who are poor, living in rural, marginalized or conflict affected regions, particularly in the north—face compounded disadvantages across all dimensions. These intersecting disparities highlight the need for targeted interventions that address not just individual factors but their combined effects across the country. Credits: HIDLSON V. on pexels 11 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique 4. The Path Forward: Unlocking Economic Opportunities for Adolescent Girls in Mozambique The “Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent girls in Africa”5 report identifies key policy priorities for countries as Mozambique where adolescent girls face multiple, interrelated vulnerabilities (see Box 1). Priority actions for Mozambique Three types of interventions have shown particular promise in Kenya. I Improving girls’ educational attainment outcomes through: → Engaging boys, men and communities to change social norms around early marriage and early pregnancy. → Strengthening school infrastructure, specifically in rural areas, with a particular → Enhancing access to basic youth-friendly focus on girls’ enrolment (45% of girls are in healthcare services, particularly access to school - lower than SSA average). sexual and reproductive health services and information. → Reducing indirect costs to attend school, such as by providing financial support for textbooks or uniforms, or cash transfers. III Adapting interventions to prevent and address gender-based violence through: → Incentivizing parents and adolescent girls by → Identifying and tailoring programs for the providing more information. most vulnerable girls, particularly the most vulnerable ones, including those from the II Addressing the vulnerabilities of child marriage and early childbearing through: poorest households, areas with limited resources, or areas affected by violence → Strengthening enforcement of the child → Deterring potential perpetrators of violence marriage law (WB Mozambique Gender Assessment, 2022).6 → Fostering a proactive stance among victims, through structured and reliable reporting, → Creating tailored programs for young mothers referral and victim support mechanisms and married adolescent girls, to support their needs for continuing education, accessing childcare and health services, and earning income. → Designing interventions to improve knowledge on sexual and reproductive rights and health 12 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Box 1: Successful, proven and promising interventions from Mozambique and other contexts Evidence from successful programs in Mozambique Some intervention have demonstrated significant potential to improve adolescent girls’ health and education outcomes in Mozambique. „ Improving parental information and „ Improving students’ awareness as well giving conditional transfers are two as proactive behavior regarding gender effective solutions to increase girls’ violence effectively mitigate school- school attendance at a low cost in related gender-based violence and Mozambique (de Walque and Valente, increase school enrollment (Amaral et al., 2023). Providing cash transfers or 7 2024).8 An intervention was implemented vouchers to buy school material both in 326 primary schools in the Safala conditional on regular school attendance Province to enhance school’s personnel incentivizes families to improve adolescent capacity and promote proactive behaviors girls’ school attendance. Additionally, among students regarding gender violence. providing high-frequency information to Results show that targeting boys and girls parents about their daughter’s school collectively or separately contribute to the attendance increases school attendance reduction of school-related gender-based for a cost roughly 8 times lower than violence. However, only adding a student conditional cash transfers targeting parents. training component led to a significant 10% If accompanied by a conditional cash increase in girls’ school enrollment. transfer, the effect of parents receiving information on child’s attendance is larger than the effect of parents’ financial incentive alone. Examples of proven and promising approaches from other contexts relevant for Mozambique. „ Constructing schools and improving girl engaging boys through soccer activities friendly infrastructure (such as by building to educate them to make safer sexual latrines, recruiting more female teachers, and reproductive health choices improved and providing school supplies) increases not only girls’ sexual and reproductive girls’ school enrolment, attendance and health outcomes but also reduced their performance based on evidence from Niger likelihood of experiencing intimate partner (Bagby et al. 2016) and Burkina Faso 9 violence (Shah et al., 2023).11 Moreover, in (Kazianga et al., 2013).10 Cote d’Ivoire combining girls’ safe spaces with husbands’ and future husbands’ clubs „ Engaging boys, parents and communities enhanced positive gender attitudes and improves adolescent girls’ health and decision-making capacities (Boulhane et al., attitudes to gender norms. In Tanzania, 2024).12 13 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique „ Providing information on sexual and „ Comprehensive economic empowerment reproductive health (SRH) and marriage programs support transitions from school is a cost-effective policy intervention to to the labor market. In Liberia, six months reduce early marriage and childbearing of classroom training in technical and life among the most vulnerable girls. In skills, followed by six months of support Uganda, adolescent girls were given access for wage employment or entrepreneurship, to life-skills training through in community- significantly increased young women’s based girls’ clubs, five days a week after savings, improved employment rates and school, for two years. The key topics earnings, and increased their control covered in the life skills training sessions over their incomes (Adoho et al., 2014).14 include sexual and reproductive health, Additionally, providing market information menstruation and menstrual disorders, on employment and training helped young pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, women in the Republic of Congo enter HIV/AIDS awareness, family planning, and higher-paying, male-dominated trades rape. Four years after, the results show (Gassier, Rouanet, and Traore 2022).15 that teenager fertility rate dropped by 24 percent and reduced early marriage by 53 percent compared to baseline (Bandiera et al., 2020). Another study in Kenya found that exposure to HIV and SRH curriculum causes a 28 percent reduction in teenage pregnancies over a one-year period (Dupas, 2011).13 14 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Conclusions Mozambique stands at a critical juncture in addressing adolescent girls’ pathways to prosperity. Due to prevailing vulnerabilities, there is momentum to strengthen the country’s educational foundations to comprehensive empowerment that addresses economic and social dimensions simultaneously. By focusing on the areas highlighted in this brief — girls’ school enrolment, preventing child marriage and early childbearing, adapting interventions to vulnerable girls and supporting school-to-work transition —Mozambique can unlock the potential of its adolescent girls while addressing persistent disparities across geographic, gender, and socioeconomic lines. The economic returns of such investments are substantial, not only for the girls themselves but for the country’s broader development trajectory. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated action across multiple sectors, with interventions tailored to the diverse contexts within Mozambique and particular attention to the most vulnerable populations, particularly those affected by conflict and humanitarian emergencies. 15 Pathways to prosperity for adolescent girls in Mozambique Endnotes 1 Throughout this publication, Africa refers to the 48 countries in Sub- 10 Kazianga, Harounan, Dan Levy, Leigh L. Linden, Matt Sloan. 2013. Saharan Africa, based on the World Bank’s regional classification. “The Effects of ‘Girl-Friendly’ Schools: Evidence from the BRIGHT School Construction Program in Burkina Faso.” American Economic Journal: Applied 2 Ajayi, Kehinde F., and Estelle Koussoubé. 2024. Pathways to Prosperity Economics 5, no. 3: 41–62. for Adolescent Girls in Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank. 11 Shah, Manisha, Jennifer Seager, Joao Montalvao, & Markus Goldstein. 3 Data for adolescent girls and boys (ages 15–19) are based on original 2023. ”Sex, power, and adolescence: Intimate partner violence and sexual analysis using USAID’s latest Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), behaviors (No. w31624)”. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.dhsprogram.com. 12 Boulhane, Othmane, Claire Boxho, Désiré Kanga, Estelle Koussoubé, 4 Throughout this publication, Africa refers to the 48 countries in Sub- and Léa Rouanet. 2024. “Empowering Adolescent Girls through Safe Saharan Africa, based on the World Bank’s regional classification. Spaces and Accompanying Measures in Côte d’Ivoire.” Policy Research Working Paper 10721, World Bank, Washington, DC. 5 Throughout this publication, Africa refers to the 48 countries in Sub- Saharan Africa, based on the World Bank’s regional classification. 13 Dupas, Pascaline. “Do teenagers respond to HIV risk information? Evidence from a field experiment in Kenya.” American Economic Journal: 6 Reyes,Hiska Noemi; Stephanie Anne Kuttner, Laurel Elizabeth Morrison, Applied Economics 3.1 (2011): 1-34. Isabel Micaela Santagostino Recavarren, Daniel John Kirkwood, and Tamara Bah. “Mozambique Gender Assessment : Leveraging Women and 14 Adoho, Franck, Shubha Chakravarty, Dala T. Korkoyah Jr., Mattias Girls’ Potential”. World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/ Lundberg, and Afia Tasneem. 2014. “The Impact of an Adolescent Girls curated/en/099091823092039842 Employment Program: The EPAG Project in Liberia.” Policy Research Working Paper 6832, World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge. 7 De Walque, Damien, and Christine Valente. 2023. “Incentivizing School worldbank.org/handle/10986/17718. Attendance in the Presence of Parent-Child Information Frictions.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 15, no. 3: 256–285. 15 Gassier, Marine, Lea Rouanet, and Lacina Traore. 2022. “Addressing Gender-Based Segregation through Information: Evidence from a 8 Amaral, Sofia, et al. Gender-Based Violence in Schools and Girls’ Randomized Experiment in the Republic of Congo.” Policy Research Education: Experimental Evidence from Mozambique. No. w33203. National Working Paper 9934, World Bank, Washington, DC. Bureau of Economic Research, 2024. 9 Bagby, Emilie, Anca Dumitrescu, Cara Orfield, Matt Sloan. 2016. Long-Term Evaluation of the IMAGINE Project in Niger (English version). Mathematica Policy Research. 16 Acknowledgment This brief was developed through a collaboration between the World Bank, the Center for Global Development, and the Population Council. The team included Nelsy Affoum, Kehinde Ajayi, Karen Austrian, Evalin Karijo, Estelle Koussoubé, Raffaella Pizzamiglio, Clemence Pougue Biyong, and Lea Rouanet. The team gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF). openknowledge.worldbank.org