GIRL/ Gender Innovation and Regional Learning

This project aims to support the empowerment of adolescent girls by addressing discriminatory norms and attitudes that contribute to gender inequalities like child early and forced marriage early school drop-out and issues surrounding adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). This is done by generating evidence to guide the design and implementation of laws policies and programs at sub-national national and regional levels that address inequalities in girls’ education and access to healthcare and SRHR services. Project activities include: (1) piloting initiatives to improve the enabling environment for adolescent girls’ empowerment. This includes influencing health workers’ beliefs around women and girls’ rights to access contraception and addressing norms attitudes and beliefs around women and girls’ empowerment through interventions with parents community and religious leaders boys and men in communities; (2) conducting detailed research such as impact evaluations and experimentation including for the initiatives piloted by the project. This generates evidence on effective approaches to addressing discriminatory norms and attitudes; and (3) strengthening the capacity of decision-makers to use evidence to enhance the quality of policies and programs. The findings and evidence directly informs guides influences and leverages the regional Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project implemented by the World Bank. The GIRL project aims to benefit 40 000 girls through the pilot interventions and research directly and indirectly benefit more than 500 000 girls through other programs informed by the evidence generated.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) Increased women’s and girl agency and ability to make their own sexual and reproductive life choices and control over important life decisions; and (2) Increased rights based policy making around women’s and girls sexual and reproductive agency across the Sahel and beyond.