EMPOWERING GIRLS- Transforming Communities

The girl reaches the age of 12. Will she continue her schooling like her brother? Or will she stay home to help her mother with house work and take care of the new baby? If she continues school, will her father pull her out when they need additional labour in the field while her brother stays at school? When she becomes older, will she know how to resist the sexual advances of boys who find her attractive? What happens if she becomes too educated? Will she be forced to leave school if young boys tease her on her way to school? What if she gets married and becomes pregnant at an early age?

Rationale

• About 16 million women, 15-19 years old give birth each year amounting to approximately 11% of all births worldwide (WHO; 2008).
• One out of six women aged 15-19 is already married (PDHS; 2006-7).
• Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in child birth than women in their twenties (UNICEF 2009).
• 83% girls are enrolled in Primary schools from which 56% complete their Primary education, only 39% are enrolled in lower secondary leaving a remarkable 20% in upper secondary.

Introduction to the Project
To cater to these issues a holistic programme on comprehensive girls’ education including leadership is required. Based on the past experience of World Population Foundation, it is vital to provide adolescent girls with basic Life Skills at initial stages of their lives to empower them to deal with these challenges with confidence and a positive attitude. This ultimately facilitates their chances of acquiring higher education resulting in social and economic empowerment and thus improving quality of life for themselves, their families and eventually the society. The project is funded by The David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

In Pakistan, like many other developing countries, poverty is intrinsically linked with poor Sexual and Reproductive Health. An analysis of the SRHR landscape in Pakistan further manifests the missing link between interventions and rights bringing home the realization as to why SRH initiatives in the past have failed to become socially sustainable. Moreover, the assumption that boys and girls under 18 are “too young” to have Sexual and Reproductive Health information and services ignores the realities and violates young people’s right to acquire practical knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves and their partners from STIs/HIV, unwanted pregnancies , unsafe abortions or childbirth related complications, and sexual abuse or violence. Young people who seek Reproductive Health services often face judgmental health providers who offer neither confidentiality nor privacy.

Goals and Objectives
The main goal is to have ‘” An Evidence based Model of ‘“Girls Empowerment’” to deal with SRH issues in under-developed communities in Pakistan.

The objectives of the project are to:

• Develop adolescent girls’ lLife sSkills to deal with SRH issues in among their peers, families and in their communities.
• Empower adolescent girls and develop their confidence and leadership skills.
• Establish networks of support in schools and communities to advocate improvements in SRH indicators and relevant policies , i.e. youth, health and education policies creating “safe places” for them.

Time Line
October 2009 – September 2012

Selected Districts

Target District	Sanghar, Sindh	Gujranwala , Punjab
Implementing Partner	Sindh Agricultural & Forestry Workers Organization) SAFWCO	Promotion of Peace, Justice & Youth Cooperation, Bargad
Social Setting	Metropolitan and Urban	Municipal and Peri-urban
Social Setting	Pure Rural	Mixed Rural and Urban
No of Higher Secondary Schools	20	35
No of Maser Trainers	08	12
No of Teachers	80	140
No of Adolescent Girls Students	8,000	14,000
No of Girls in Communities	3,000	7,000
No of Parents	15,000n	25,000

Implementation Strategies and Target Groups

Intervention Strategy	Target Group
Action Research Base line Study: A baseline action research (Qualitative and Quantitative) of the two target districts will be carried out by engaging an independent agency to assess the indicators and current situation on status of adolescent girls with particular focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Economic Empowerment. Impact Evaluation: An Impact Evaluation through a third party with an aim to assess the changes in the indicators identified during the baseline study in the project districts and overall impact of the project on lives, status of girls.	School going adolescent girls Teachers Local education and health department Parents
Capacity Building of the Stakeholders The strategy involves two components including production of Resource Materials and Training of the stakeholders. Resource Materials for Master Trainers and Teachers include: Training Manuals on Life Skills Education (LSE) and Girls Economic Empowerment (GEE) with focus on equipping Master Trainers and teachers with knowledge, information, skills and tools required to effectively implement both components with adolescent girls. Resource Materials for Adolescent Girls include: • Work book on Life Skills Education for adolescent girls of grade 8, a record book for girls to document their learnings of this 30 hour curriculum. • Work book on Girls Economic Empowerment for adolescent girls of grade 9, a record book to document and take account of practical tips for future opportunities from this 24 hour curriculum. • Adolescent Girls Empowerment Toolkit, containing information on girls’ education and health issues to be used as a guide by girls during their summer project to raise awareness in the communities. Training of the Stakeholders Partnership with local health and education departments include • Sensitization Seminar to brief , orient and sensitize the stakeholders on issues that girls face in the community particularly related to SRHR, gender and economic empowerment • Training of Master Trainers in two levels. The first level focusing on Life Skills Education to build their capacity and understanding on issues of SRHR, gender, education and health and their impact on young girls. The second level focusing on Economic Empowerment to teach the theory and models of economic empowerment and income generation for adolescent girls with practical tools to train other groups on the respective issues. • Training of Teachers by Master Trainer in two levels. The first level focusing on Life Skills Education to be implemented with adolescent girls of grade 8 and the second level focusing on Economic Empowerment to be implemented in grade 9 with the same girls next year. • Professional Development Forums – PDFs for Teachers at district level to focus on sharing, reflecting, learning and documenting the needs and realities from community.	Master Trainers Teachers Adolescent Girls Officials of local Health Department Officials of Local Education Department Principals Female Teachers
Advocacy for Enabling Environment Reverse Education includes two strategies with structured and systematic opportunities provided to adolescent girls to educate other adults, including parents, cousins and neighbours from their communities to create an enabling environment. • Summer Projects: Girls’ active and meaningful participation through ‘Adolescent Girls Empowerment Toolkit’ as an effort to reach out-of-school-girls in their neighbourhood with information and skills. • School Based Events: A practical opportunity for adolescent girls to organize yearly ‘Whole of School’ activities on already recognized international days in order to reach out to other adolescent girls within schools. Policy Dialogues focus on providing groups of adolescent girls with the opportunity of quarterly structured meetings with the district departments of health and education with one agenda – inclusion of this intervention in all girls’ high schools of their districts. It includes: • Policy makers at district level to lobby and advocate with the district governments to integrate this prototype of Girls Empowerment in the secondary education at district level. • Health management system at district levels to promote provision and access to services for adolescent girls. District Adolescents Summits with 250 girl leaders with the potential to become advocates, leaders and change agents. Learning Forum with Stakeholders to share the learnings of project with stakeholders and acquire sustainability.	Parents Out of School Girls Teachers Civil Society Organizations Officials from Health Systems

Looking at the Bigger Picture – Small and Well-planned Steps towards Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Development Goal	Short term Contribution	Long term Contribution
MDG 2 Achieve Universal Primary Education by Increase in number of school- going girls in target districts	• Increased interest of girls and families to complete higher secondary schools • Increased understanding of decision makers on girls’ education and empowerment • Increased knowledge and awareness among the stakeholders about socio-economic and Reproductive Health education needs of young girls • Increased capacity of schools to run and sustain the project • Increase in number of girls completing their secondary education	• Increased number of school going girls
MDG 3 To promote gender equality and empower women by equipping girls to make healthy and informed choices and creating ‘safe places’ for them.	• Increase in confidence level of adolescent girls about their SRHR • Positive perception of adolescent girls about their selves, body and role in society • Increased ability of young girls to communicate effectively and demand for basic rights to education and health • Increased capacity of organizations to link issues of social and economic empowerment with health and education • Enhanced role of girls in advocacy initiatives at district level • Increased ability of girls to advocate with stakeholders for their rights to health and education	• Girls demonstrate efficacy
MDG 5 Improve Maternal Health by encouraging delayed marriages and reducing early pregnancies.	• Adolescent girls’ SRH status in the target districts assessed • Increased capacity of partner organizations on issues of adolescent girls’ SRHR	• Increased young girls’ age at marriage and first pregnancy