Reports

A Complex Formula: Girls and Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in Asia
Authoring Agency: UNESCO
Publication Date: January 2015

The report examines a wide range of issues related to girls and women in STEM fields, including gender differences in learning achievement in mathematics and science, and educational, psychosocial, and labor market factors.  It provides reflections and conclusions for further study and policy formulation in Asia and beyond.

Addressing Early Marriage and Adolescent Pregnancy as a Barrier to Gender Parity and Equality in Education
Authoring Agencies: UNESCO and the Education for All Global Monitoring Report
Publication Date: 2015

This paper provides an overview of international trends in child marriage and adolescent pregnancy. It draws from four country case studies to provide evidence of the nature the relationships between child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and schooling. The author concludes with policy and program recommendations for addressing early marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

Advocacy Case Study: CONACMI in Guatemala
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
Publication Date: June 2014

This case study examines how Let Girls Lead partner CONACMI (The National Association Against Child Abuse) successfully advocated for the approval and implementation of a National Protocol for the Comprehensive Treatment of Victims of Sexual Violence, guaranteeing specific attention to the needs of adolescent girl survivors.

Advocacy Case Study: Transforming Girls’ Rights in Liberia
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
Publication Date: June 2014
This case study examines how Let Girls Lead partners HOPE and THINK advocated for passage of the National Children’s Law, guaranteeing comprehensive protection for the health, education, and rights of girls and boys in Liberia.

Advocacy Case Study: Transforming Indigenous Girls’ Lives in Guatemala
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
Publication Date: June 2014

This case study examines how Let Girls Lead partner Asociacion IDEI advocated for increased government funding for adolescent girls’ health and education programs by engaging indigenous adolescent girls as leaders in their own advocacy campaign. 

A Girl’s Eye View: A Literature Review on Girl Engagement
Authoring Agency: The Coalition for Adolescent Girls
Publication Date: October 2014

This literature review examines the motivations for, and implications of, engaging girls in the programs, projects, campaigns, and research that affect their lives.  It offers a working definition of “meaningful engagement” and provides examples of engagement strategies in various organizational and geographical contexts.

Are Schools Safe and Equal Places for Girls and Boys in Asia?
Authoring Agencies: Plan International and the International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: February 2015

This report describes research undertaken in Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam to assess the prevalence, nature, response, and reporting of various forms of school-related gender-based violence.  Findings point to the need for focusing on gender equality in education and the need for a multi-level approach that addresses barriers at the individual, community, school, and policy levels.

A Review of Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health
Authoring Agency: Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative
Publication Date: January 2015

This comprehensive review paper highlights major behavioral challenges in reproductive health. It identifies a set of promising tools from behavioral economics that could be relevant to reproductive health challenges and presents a framework for applying behavioral economics to reproductive outcomes.

A Review of Control-Comparison Interventions on Girls and Health
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

Through a structured, in-depth literature review, this paper on low and middle-income countries sheds light on what we have learned and what we still need to learn about the health of adolescent girls.

A Review of Interventions to Reduce Violence Against Girls
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

This paper is a review of the evidence on multi-sectoral interventions to reduce violence against adolescent girls.  Its objective is to provide an overview of programming aimed at girls in developing countries and to assess their effectiveness.

Accessing Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics in India – The Perspectives of Adolescents and Youth
Authoring Agency: The Population Council
Publication Date: July 2014

The Population Council conducted an assessment of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) from the perspectives of adolescents and youth and health care providers in three states in India. This report presents the findings of the assessment conducted among adolescents and youth.

Adding it Up – The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health 2014
Authoring Agencies: The Guttmacher Institute and United Nations Population Fund
Publication Date: 2014

This report analyzes data from a wide range of sources, including survey data from women in developing countries, to document the number of women who lack access to sexual and reproductive health services, what it would cost to meet their needs, and the benefits of meeting these needs.

Adolescent Girls in Northern Nigeria: Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Opportunities Profile
Authoring Agency: Mercy Corps
Publication Date: February 2013

Through this assessment, Mercy Corps profiled 1,800 adolescent girls from across the North West States of kano, Katsina, and Jigawa to identify key barriers and opportunities for financial inclusion and entrepreneurship.

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Authoring Agencies: Women’s Refugee Commission, Save the Children, and UNHCR
Publication Date: July 2015

To operationalize the learning from a 2012 study on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, the WRC and Save the Children embarked on a pilot project in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The project aimed to improve adolescent (10-19 years) knowledge, attitudes and behaviors around select sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. This report covers finding and lessons learned.

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs in Humanitarian Settings: An In-Depth Look at Family Planning Services
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

This report presents the results from a year-long collaborative exercise between the Women’s Refugee Commission and Save the Children that mapped existing adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) programs that have been implemented since 2009.  It explains best practices for ASRH programs and particular challenges inherent in humanitarian or crisis settings.

All In to End #AdolescentAIDS
Authoring Agency: UNAIDS
Publication Date: 2015

This report outlines All In, a campaign for action and collaboration meant to drive better results with and for adolescents through critical changes in programs and policy. The report provides background data, a strategic framework, and suggestions for monitoring and evaluating progress in ending adolescent AIDS.

Background Paper on Attacks against Girls Seeking Access to Education
Authoring Agency: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Publication Date: February 2015

A new study by the UN Human Rights Office states that attacks against girls accessing education persist and, alarmingly, appear to be occurring with increasing regularity in some countries.  The report, which reviews data on attacks on educational institutions and on girls who attempt to access these institutions, is an assessment of attacks on schools and the implications for girls’ education.

Barriers and Enablers to Education: A Qualitative Exploration of Factors Among Communities in Northern Karnataka
Authoring Agencies: STRIVE and Karnataka Health Promotion Trust
Publication Date: 2015

This report explores the barriers to girls’ education and the factors that help enable girls to attend school. It draws from in-depth interviews with adolescent girls in and out of school, their families and teachers and members of School Development Management Committees in Bagalkot and Bijapur Districts in northern Karnataka, India.

Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2014
Authoring Agency: Plan International
Publication Date: 2014

This report, subtitled Pathways to Power: Creating Sustainable Change for Adolescent Girls, focuses on the structural barriers that  block girls’ and young women’s pathways to power.  It looks at the way power operates within the social institution of families and communities and also within the more formal institutions of the state, systems of global governance, and the economy.

Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected
Authoring Agencies: African American Policy Forum and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
Publication Date: 2015

This report seeks to increase awareness of the gendered consequences of disciplinary policies for girls of color in the United States. It details the various ways girls of color experience inhospitable educational environments and the affects those environments have on their future achievements.  It offers evidence provided by girls themselves and key recommendations for addressing their needs.

Building Evidence on Effective Programs to Delay Marriage and Support Married Girls in Africa
Authoring Agencies: The Population Council, USAID, UNFPA, PEPFAR, and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Women’s, Children’s, and Youth Affairs
Publication Date: 2014

This brief aims to describe the most effective and cost-efficient strategies to reduce child marriage through both prevention and support programs.

Compilation of Good Practices in Girls’ and Women’s Education in West Africa
Authoring Agencies: Aide et Action, the African Network Campaign on Education for All, FAWE, Plan International, and UNICEF
Publication Date: 2013

This report highlights the best practices of partner organizations involved in girls’ and women’s education in West Africa by reviewing strategies, initiatives, procedures, and behaviors that have generated good results.

Child Brides, Global Consequences: How to End Child Marriage
Authoring Agency: Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: July 2014

This report is a collection of two previously published working papers on child marriage: “High Stakes for Young Lives” and “Fragile States, Fragile Lives”. 

Education for Girls: Alternative Pathways to Girls’ Empowerment
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

This paper looks at the evidence available on the alternative  multi-dimensional educational investments designed to build a diverse range of competencies in such a way as to empower adolescent girls. It highlights innovative and effective approaches to the problem of gender inequality and discrimination against adolescent girls.

Economic Empowerment Strategies for Adolescent Girls
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
Publication Date: 2013

This research investigates economic empowerment strategies for adolescent girls, analyzing data from a wide array of initiatives. This report identifies key findings from the field and develops recommendations to inform future program development for civil society organizations and funders working in the field of adolescent girls’ economic empowerment.

Empower Young Women and Adolescent Girls: Fast-Track the End of the AIDS Epidemic in Africa
Authoring Agency: UNAIDS
Publication Date: 2015

This report examines the current AIDS response in Africa and provides recommendations for fast-tracking the response to HIV/AIDS among adolescent girls and women.  It is meant to guide regional and global advocacy and inform political dialogue over the coming year.

Empowering Adolescent Girls to Lead through Education (EAGLE) Project
Authoring Agencies: USAID, PEPFAR, and FHI 360
Publication Date: 2015

Empowering Adolescent Girls to Lead through Education (EAGLE) is a five-year, USAID-funded project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to create opportunities for adolescent girls to acquire the education and skills necessary to become active, positive agents for change within their families, schools, and communities. The purpose of this gender analysis is to identify differences in gender roles, needs, experiences, and opportunities in education in EAGLE school environments.

Empowered and Safe: Economic Strengthening for Girls in Emergencies
Authoring Agencies:Women’s Refugee Commission, UNICEF, and CPC Learning Network
Publication Date: June 2015

This report provides a framework for mitigating girls’ risk of gender-based violence (GBV) through economic strengthening. It outlines promising practices from humanitarian and development contexts and provides insights from a review of economic strengthening programs that targeted adolescent girls.  The report aims to inform the design, monitoring, and evaluation of GBV prevention programs in emergencies.

Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives
Authoring Agency: Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: May 2013

This paper examines child marriage as not only a threat to the girls themselves, but also to the prosperity and stability of the countries in which the practice is prevalent.  It posits that child marriage undermines U.S. development and foreign policy priorities and threatens international cooperation.

Ending Child Marriage in a Generation: What Research is Needed?
Authoring Agencies: The Ford Foundation and Greeneworks
Publication Date: January 2014

This report aims to provoke discussion clarify what we need to know to bring an end to the deeply harmful practice of child marriage.  By mapping current knowledge of child marriage and the programs designed to address it, and highlighting questions that remain unanswered, the report helps move us closer to meaningful change.

Ending Child Marriage in Malawi
Authoring Agencies: Let Girls Lead and Girls Empowerment Network
Publication Date: January 2014
This case study examines how Let Girls Lead and the Girls Empowerment Network are eliminating child marriage in southern Malawi through girl-led advocacy with village chiefs.

Ending Sex Discrimination in Nationality and Citizenship Laws
Authoring Agency: Equality Now
Publication Date: February 2015

This report documents a wide range of harmful consequences and calls on governments to remove all discrimination against women in passing on their nationality to their husbands and children. It highlights those countries where women do not have the same rights as men to convey their nationality, engendering much hardship for the families concerned.

Ending Sex Discrimination in the Law
Authoring Agency: Equality Now
Publication Date: January 2015

Compiled twenty years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, this report details discriminatory laws regarding marital status, personal status, economic status, and violence.  It contains information on progress made towards ending sex discrimination in the law in various countries and offers suggestions for individuals and organizations to join the Beijing +20 campaign and help end such discrimination.

Female Genital Mutilation in the U.S. Fact Sheet
Authoring Agency: Equality Now
Publication Date: 2015

This factsheet was recently updated to include the most current knowledge and statistics regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) and its practice within the United States. It covers a range of questions regarding FGM, including the health consequences, relevant laws and policies, and the history of the practice in the U.S. It contains information that would be relevant for policymakers, researchers, or those designing interventions to prevent the practice.

Fragile States, Fragile Lives: Child Marriage Amid Disaster and Conflict
Authoring Agency: Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: June 2014

This paper examines the correlation between child marriage prevalence and state fragility, demonstrating that many of the countries with the highest rates of the practice are found on the top of lists such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) list of fragile states and the Fund for Peace’s Failed States Index.

Girls on the Move: Adolescent Girls and Migration in the Developing World
Authoring Agencies: The Population Council and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls
Publication Date: 2013

This report is the first of its kind to examine the social and economic determinants of internal migration for adolescent girls in developing countries, and to identify the links between migration, risk, and opportunity.

Girls and Income Growth in Ethiopia
Authoring Agency: Girl Hub
Publication Date: October 2013

This study identifies and prioritizes the country-specific constraints to higher return investments in adolescent girls – including obstacles for girls contributing to, and benefiting from, economic growth in Ethiopia.

Global Monitoring Report – Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges
Authoring Agency: UNESCO
Publication Date: 2015

The 2015 Global Monitoring Report provides a complete assessment of progress towards the target date for reaching the Education for All goals and examines whether the stakeholders upheld their commitments. It considers possible determinants of the pace of progress and identifies key lessons for shaping the post-2015 global education agenda.

Hear Our Voices: Do Adolescent Girls’ Issues Really Matter? Technical Report
Authoring Agency: Plan International
Publication Date: 2014

This report presents the findings from Plan International’s interviews with over 7,000 adolescent girls and boys in eleven countries.  It contains information on the methodology, results, and recommendations generated from this groundbreaking study.

High Stakes for Young Lives: Examining Strategies to Stop Child Marriage 
Authoring Agency: The Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: April 2014

This paper examines the social, economic, and cultural factors driving child marriage in order to help policymakers and civil society leaders curb, and eventually eliminate, child marriage.

If Not Now, When? Ending Violence against the World’s Children
Authoring Agency: Center for International Cooperation
Publication Date: October 2014

This report focuses on the political solutions necessary to preventing and ending violence against children.  It describes the scale of the epidemic, reviews the likely post-2015 targets that will make a difference in combating violence, and proposes ways forward on the issue, urging political leadership and global partnership above all.

I’m Here: Adolescent Girls in Emergencies
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

“I’m Here: Adolescent Girls in Emergencies” is a resource for emergency response staff. It outlines an operational approach and recommendations that can help humanitarian sectors be more accountable to adolescent girls from the start of an emergency.

Innovation and Action in Funding Girls’ Education
Authoring Agency: Brookings Institute
Publication Date: 2015

This report describes a survey of funding for girls’ education in developing countries, focused specifically on funding mechanisms, activities, and special populations targeted, as well as links to affinity groups.

In Search of Safety and Solutions: Somali Refugee Adolescent Girls at Sheder and Aw Barre Camps
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

Thousands of Somali refugee adolescent girls ages ten to sixteen are living in refugee camps in Ethiopia. This report details their protection and empowerment needs and priorities, programs and community-based strategies that serve them, and gaps in services from girls’ perspectives.

Investments in Adolescent Girls’ Physical and Financial Assets
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

This paper focuses on the benefits of strengthening poor adolescent girls’ ability to invest in and accumulate physical and financial assets.  It also analyses the effectiveness of programs working in this area of development.

Masculinity, Intimate Partner Violence, and Son Preference in India
Authoring Agency: International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: 2014

In-depth research on gender, power and masculinity and various programmatic efforts to engage men have made it abundantly clear that men and boys must be an integral part of efforts to promote gender equality. The study’s findings emphasize that in India, masculinity, i.e., men’s controlling behavior and gender inequitable attitudes, strongly determines men’s preference for sons over daughters as well as their proclivity for violence towards an intimate partner – both of which are manifestations of gender inequality.

Measuring Adolescent Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Within a Rights-Based Framework: Developing and Applying an Index
Authoring Agency: Guttmacher Institute
Publication Date: December 2014

In line with recent efforts to use quantitative indicators to monitor contraceptive programs’ fulfillment of human rights, the authors sought to explore whether an index could assess the state of adolescent women’s reproductive health and rights.  This paper describes the development of such an index, the trends that emerged, and remaining gaps in learning and data collection.

Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Adolescents in School-Based Health Centers
Authoring Agency: Guttmacher Institute
Publication Date: 2015

This policy review examines how controversy around teen sexual activity and opposition to making contraceptive services available to teens have played major roles in blocking school-based health centers (SBHCs) from providing sexual and reproductive health services. It details specific steps that policymakers can take to enable SBHCs to provide much needed health services to at-risk adolescents.

More Power to Her: How Empowering Girls Can End Child Marriage
Authoring Agency: International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: 2014

Based on four case studies in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Egypt, and India, this report from the International Center for Research on women shows that girl-focused programs expand girls’ ability to make strategic life choices by providing them with access to critical resources and help prevent child marriage.

Multisectoral Responses to Gender-Based Violence in Mozambique
Authoring Agency: Pathfinder International
Publication Date: January 2015

This technical brief explores Pathfinder’s experience pioneering a multisectoral approach to primary and secondary prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) across two projects in Mozambique. It highlights implementation experience, lessons learned, and next steps for Pathfinder’s GBV programming in Mozambique.

National Baseline Survey on Life Experiences of Adolescents Report
Authoring Agencies: UNICEF, U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, Together for Girls, and the Collaborating Centre for Operational Research and Evaluation
Publication Date: 2013

This report details the findings of the National Baseline Survey on Life Experiences of Adolescents performed in Zimbabwe in 2011.

No Way Out – Child Marriage and Human Rights Abuses in Tanzania
Authoring Agency: Human Rights Watch
Publication Date: October 2014

This report from Human Rights Watch documents how child marriage severely curtails girls’ access to education and exposes them to exploitation and violence, including marital rape and female genital mutilation, and reproductive health risks.

“Our Job is to Shoot, Slaughter, and Kill”: Boko Haram’s Reign of Terror in North East Nigeria
Authoring Agency: Amnesty International
Publication Date: April 2015

This report details the specific abuses inflicted by Boko Haram on young women and girls in northeast Nigeria and argues Boko Haram has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It also offers recommendations for the international community can effectively respond to such actions.

Partnership in Progress 2013-2014
Authoring Agency: Family Planning 2020
Publication Date: 2015

Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a global partnership that supports the rights of women and girls to decide, freely and for themselves, whether, when, and how many children they want to have. This report, Partnership in Progress, shows that the initiative is making steady progress toward its goal of enabling an additional 120 million women and girls in the world’s sixty-nine poorest countries to access voluntary family planning information, services, and supplies by 2020.

Preventing Child Marriage in the Commonwealth: The Role of Education
Authoring Agencies: Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan UK
Publication Date: 2015

This report shares best practices from governments and civil society organizations for keeping girls in school and provides recommendations for governments, ministries of education, and the Commonwealth secretariat as to how to use education to help end child marriage.

Protecting the Girl Child: Using the Law to End Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Related Human Rights Violations
Authoring Agency: Equality Now
Publication Date: January 2014

Building on the body of Equality Now’s work for the protection of girls’ and women’s rights, this report illustrates the impact of child marriage through eleven case studies and includes an analysis of the laws and issues surrounding child marriage from eighteen countries.

Reducing Societal Discrimination Against Adolescent Girls 
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

This paper provides a critical evaluation of the evidence available on how social norms can be used to promote behavior change. It synthesizes key evidence on integrated approaches to improving girls’ access to health care, economic assets, and education and preventing violence as a result of such norm changes.

Refocusing Family Planning in Refugee Settings: Findings and Recommendations from a Baseline Study
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

This summary report is based on a multi-country baseline study to document knowledge of family planning, beliefs and practices of refugees, as well as the state of service provision in select refugee settings in Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia and Uganda.

Refugee Girls: The Invisible Faces of War
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: June 2015

This report documents the results of a multi-year project dedicated to uncovering the untold stories of the millions of refugee girls whose voices are almost never heard.

Reproductive Health: R&D for the Developing World
Authoring Agency: Policy Cures
Publication Date: 2014

Based on a global survey of funding, this report provides a comprehensive picture of global funding patterns for research and development into reproductive health products in developing countries. The report states that funding for reproductive health products is too low to match the needs of women and girls in developing countries and notes the heavy reliance on a small number of global funders.

Risk for Coerced Sex Among Female Youth in Ghana – Roles of Family Context, School Enrollment And Relationship Experience
Authors: Jeffrey B. Bingenheimer of the Milken Institute for Public Health, George Washington University, and Elizabeth Reed of the School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego
Publication Date: December 2014

In this article, Jeffrey B. Bingenheimer and Elizabeth Reed present data collected from seven hundred female respondents who participated in a longitudinal study of behavioral risk for HIV infection among youth aged 13–14 or 18–19 in southeastern Ghana.  They conclude that more research is needed to understand the complex context of females’ relationships with boyfriends and that a greater understanding of these relationships will aid in efforts to prevent sexual coercion and violence.

Scale-Up of Adolescent Contraceptive Services: Lessons from a 5-Country Comparative Analysis
Authoring Agency: Pathfinder International
Publication Date: June 2014

This article contributes to a growing body of evidence around scale-up of Adolescent-Friendly Contraceptive Services, which can inform the implementation and sustainable scale-up of HIV and other services for adolescents.

School-Based Interventions to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls
Authoring Agency: George Washington University Global Women’s Institute
Publication Date: 2013

This brief provides a concise overview of select school-based interventions that aim to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) or improve knowledge and attitudes that perpetuate VAWG.  It highlights effective, promising, and emerging interventions and examines multiple forms of violence against women and girls.

School-Related Gender-Based Violence is Preventing the Achievement of Quality Education for All
Authoring Agencies: Education for All Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO, and the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
Publication Date: March 2015

This policy paper argues that school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is a global concern preventing children, especially girls, from exercising their right to a safe, inclusive, and quality education. It calls for a systematic and harmonized approach to identify, monitor, and understand SRGBV, as well as strong policy interventions to develop targeted solutions to address the problem effectively

Strong Girls, Powerful Women: Program Planning and Design for Adolescent Girls in Humanitarian Settings
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

This report is intended to help humanitarian practitioners more effectively identify and address the unique needs of adolescent girls in displacement and crisis settings. It also provides donors and policy makers, who have the ability to drive change in humanitarian programming, with guidance on how to make sustainable impact for adolescent girls.

Supporting Girls in their Transition to Secondary Education: An Exploratory Study of the Family, School, and Community Environments of Adolescent Girls in Gujarat
Authoring Agencies: Population Council and CHETNA
Publication Date: 2014

This
 study, drawing on a baseline survey conducted in 90 villages in Surendranagar district in Gujarat, explored the school experiences of adolescent girls in the last year of primary school and the first year of secondary school. It assessed the extent to which a supportive environment for schooling was available to these girls at the family, school and community levels.

Tackling FGM in the UK: Intercollegiate Recommendations for Identifying, Recording, and Reporting
Authoring Agencies: Equality Now, the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Midwives, and Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and UNITE
Publication Date: November 2013

The recommendations contained in this report demonstrate a commitment to raise awareness of the need to intervene early to prevent FGM in the United Kingdom.  The report calls for health and social care agencies, the UK Department for Education, and the police to integrate FGM prevention into national and local strategies for safeguarding children from FGM.

Teenage, Married, and Out of School: Effects of Early Marriage and Childbirth on School Dropout
Authoring Agency: FHI 360
Publication Date: 2014

Using recent household survey data from nine East and Southern African countries, this paper examines one possible reason for this persistent gender disparity; the effects of early marriage and pregnancy, and finds that marital status has a strong negative impact on school attendance. 

The Adolescent Experience In-Depth: Using Data to Identify and Reach the Most Vulnerable Young People
Authoring Agencies: Population Council and UNICEF
Publication Date: 2015

Drawing on three nationally representative datasets on Tanzanian adolescents, this report maps the diversity of adolescents, context of sexual activity, exposure to violence and sexual risk behaviors, and maternal and reproductive health. It has wide-ranging implications for Tanzanian policies and programs.

The Moved and Shaken: How Forced Relocation Affects the Lives of Urban Refugee Women and Girls
Authoring Agency: Heshima Kenya
Publication Date: 2013

Heshima Kenya’s advocacy team conducted formal research highlighting the lived experiences of more than fifty female refugees and asylum seekers. This report conveys the many ways that refugees need to be protected and empowered, instead of persecuted and coerced and sets forth the myriad of issues refugee women and girls currently face in Kenya, while also conveying their plights and concerns.

The Path to Hope: Congolese Refugee Adolescent Girls in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

The Women’s Refugee Commission completed a research mission to Tanzania in October 2012 with the purpose of gaining an understanding of Congolese refugee adolescent girls’ protection and empowerment needs. This report contains the findings and recommendations that resulted from that research.

The Reproductive and Sexual Health of Adolescent Girls in Low and Middle Income Countries
Authoring Agency: Advocates for Youth
Publication Date: 2015

This factsheet highlights a variety of adolescent girl-centered issues such as lack of education, unwanted pregnancy, and intimate partner violence.  It also details the potential benefits of supporting adolescent girls and provides a great summation of the importance of adolescent girls to the process of international development.

The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story
Authoring Agencies: Human Rights Project for Girls, Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, and Ms. Foundation for Women
Publication Date: 2015

This report details some of the ways in which the juvenile justice system fails young girls, the majority of whom are impoverished girls of color. It offers policy recommendations to dismantle the so-named “abuse to prison pipeline,” and outlines crucial steps toward ending the cycle of victimization-to-imprisonment for marginalized girls.

The State of the World’s Population 2014 – The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, Youth, and the Transformation of the Future
Authoring Agency: United Nations Population Fund
Publication Date: 2014

An unprecedented 1.8 billion youth are alive today and they are the shapers and leaders of our global future.  UNFPA’s flagship report focuses on the potential of today’s youth to transform the future, if they are given the proper tools and support.

Through Their Eyes, In Their Voices: Young Women in Five Countries Share Their Experiences Navigating Tertiary Education
Authoring Agencies: The MasterCard Foundation, Room to Read, FHI 360, and Amenons Nos Filles a l’Ecole
Through a partnership formed at the Clinton Global Initiative and with support from The MasterCard Foundation, Room to Read, FHI 360, and Amenons Nos Filles a l’Ecole (ANFE) undertook a six-month collaborative research study to investigate the social and educational factors that contribute to the success of girls attending university. With a focus on socioeconomically disadvantaged students in Africa and Asia, this study documents the stories of 160 female university students in five countries.

Transforming Gender Norms, Roles, and Power Dynamics for Better Health
Authoring Agencies: The Health Policy Project, USAID, the Public Health Foundation of India, MEASURE Evaluation, and the International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: October 2014

This review presents evidence showing how gender-integrated programming influences health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: in particular, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent  health, HIV prevention and AIDS response,  gender-based violence, tuberculosis, and universal health coverage.

Unpacking Reasons for Girls’ School Drop-Out in West Nile, Uganda
Authoring Agency: Forum for African Women Educationalists Uganda  and the International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: 2014

From 2013 to 2014 ICRW and the Forum for African Women Educationalists Uganda (FAWEU) partnered to answer several questions about girls’ education in two districts in the West Nile sub-region of Northwestern Uganda.  This report details their findings.

Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity
Authoring Agency: World Bank Group
Publication Date: 2014

This report distills vast data and hundreds of studies to shed new light on constraints facing women and girls worldwide, from epidemic levels of gender-based violence to biased laws and norms that prevent them from owning property, working, and making decisions about their own lives.

Authoring Agency: Mercy Corps
Publication Date: April 2015

The study examines life for adolescents in pastoralist communities in Turkana, Kenya in comparison to adolescents in communities that have transitioned out of pastoralism. In addition to highlighting some of the stark differences in roles and responsibilities, access to services — such as education — and marriage, the study also uncovered how shocks, such as drought, affect the lives of pastoralist girls, and how girls contribute towards household resilience in times of crisis.
Why Girls Matter: Integrated Programs for the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls
Authoring Agency: Child and Youth Finance International Network
Publication Date: 2015

This publication demonstrates how policy and program interventions can address the financial and social needs of girls during adolescence to limit future vulnerability. Citing examples from leading civil society organizations, it makes the case for holistic financial inclusion and educational programming that builds self-confidence and economic wellbeing for girls from an early age.

Women and Girls of Color: Addressing Challenges and Expanding Opportunity
Authoring Agency: The White House Council on Women and Girls
Publication Date: November 2014

This report highlights work the Administration has done over the last six years to reduce barriers to success for everyone including women and girls of color.

Women, Sports, and Development: Does it Pay to Let Girls Play?
Authoring Agency: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Publication Date: March 2014

This Policy Brief reviews the evidence that young women who participate in sports are more likely to attain educational success.  It argues that the case for promoting girls’ sports is compelling and that access to sports can translate educational gains into higher education and employment success.

Youth Lens No. 34: Addressing Early Marriage of Young and Adolescent Girls
Authoring Agency: Interagency Youth Working Group
Publication Date: January 2011

This brief examines the effects of and, most importantly, how to address early marriage of adolescent girls.

Curricula, Toolkits, and Guides

Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI) Resource Guide
Authoring Agency: Adolescent Girls Initiative
Publication Date: 2015

This resource guide was designed for staff in government-line ministries who are working on youth skills training and practitioners and World Bank teams that supervise these projects. The guide’s resources and lessons are intended to help make skills training programs more inclusive of and effective for young women.

A Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Procedures
Authoring Agency: UNESCO
Publication Date: 2015

This guide is a practical tool to promote a gender-responsive institutional culture. It offers modules on a variety of topics ranging from institutional culture to advocacy and mainstreaming gender issues in research, to promote gender equality in and through teacher education.

Banking on Youth – A Guide to Developing Innovative Youth Savings Programs
Authoring Agency: Women’s World Banking
Publication Date: October 2014

This publication from Women’s World Banking is a guide for deposit-taking institutions in any stage of youth savings program development.  Whether your organization is simply exploring the possibility of introducing youth savings or looking to improve a program’s performance, this guide will prove relevant and helpful.

Designing for Scale – Video Toolkit: Building Evidence-Based and Targeted Adolescent Girl Programs
Authoring Agency: Population Council
This video toolkit creates a flexible and accessible mechanism to share many of the key insights and lessons learned in girls programs.  The Goal is to give the user the tools to build a program – even a small pilot program – that incorporates the key elements and approaches that will make reaching significant scale possible.

Demystifying Data: A Guide to Using Evidence to Improve Young People’s Sexual Health and Rights
Authoring Agencies: Guttmacher Institute and IPPF
Publication Date: 2013

This guide aims to help health care providers, educators and advocates in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights to better understand and use evidence on adolescents’ knowledge and behaviors.

Facilitator’s Kit: Community Preparedness for Reproductive Health and Gender
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

This facilitator’s kit provides a complete framework for a three-day training on community preparedness for reproductive health and gender.  The kit – which includes training preparation, curriculum, materials, and other resources – aims to build community capacity to prepare and respond to risks and inequities faced by women and girls during emergencies.

Financial Education Curriculum for the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program
Authoring Agency: Population Council, UK Aid, and Zambia YWCA
Publication Date: 2013

This curriculum is a collection of learning sessions designed to prepare adolescent girls and young women for the financial responsibilities of adulthood, providing them with the knowledge and skills to transition from economic dependence to independence.

Girl-Centered Programming: What Are We Really Doing? Summary of Recommendations, Promising Programs, Resources, and Tools Shared
Authoring Agency: FHI 360
Publication Date: July 2014

This brief summarizes the findings from a 2013 e-forum entitled Girl-Centered Programming: What are We Really Doing?  The forum provided a platform for learning exchange among professionals, providers, and advocates around the world.

Girls Safety Toolkit
Authoring Agency: Girl Hub
Publication Date: May 2014

The Girl Safety Toolkit is a comprehensive guide to designing safe programs specifically for adolescent girls.  Designing safe opportunities for girls relies on understanding the experience of different groups in the context in which they are working.  With this information, practitioners can think more carefully about what their program is trying to achieve and how these objectives can be achieved in a safe environment.

Health and Life Skills Curriculum for the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program
Authoring Agency: Population Council, Zambia YWCA, and UK AID
Publication Date: 2013

The curriculum for the weekly safe space meetings will cover a variety of topics including sexual reproductive health, life skills, HIV and AIDS, STIs, gender and gender-based violence, leadership, human rights, and financial education.

Keep Adolescent Girls in School 
STRIVE, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, London School of Medicine and Tropical Hygiene, UKAID, and the World Bank
The poster presents evidence on the benefits to the lives of the girls, families, community and country when girls attend secondary school as compared to when they don’t; it provides answers on why it is important to keep adolescent girls in school; how it can be done and what are the enablers that can help achieve the outcome of keeping adolescent girls in school.

Linking Violence Against Children Surveys to Coordinated and Effective Action
Authoring Agency: Together for Girls
Publication Date: June 2013

This is a step-by-step how-to guide for countries interested in or planning to implement the Violence Against Children Surveys.

LGL Guide to Girl-Centered Advocacy
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
This guides provides a full capacity-building curriculum for engaging girls and their allies in strategic advocacy to improve girls’ lives around the world. The LGL capacity building approach integrates emphasis on social justice values, a human rights framework, and a gender-focused lens, enabling participants to build on their existing knowledge to improve systems, laws, programs, and funding for girls.

Making Your Health Services Youth-Friendly: A Guide for Program Planners and Implementers
Authoring Agencies: Population Services International, IntraHealth International, and USAID
Publication Date: 2014

The guide provides an overview of the global need for youth-friendly service provision and key recommendations for developing/strengthening sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services so that providers are better able to engage and retain young people in care.

Menstrual Hygiene Management in School: MHM Toolbox for Teachers and Schools in Zambia
Authoring Agency: SPLASH, USAID, and the Zambian Ministry of Education
Publication Date: May 2015

This MHM toolbox was developed by the USAID funded SPLASH (Schools Supporting Learning Achievement through Sanitation and Hygiene) as a resource for teachers and schools in Zambia, to help school personnel in Zambian primary schools carry out MHM programs or activities.

Online Training Course: Gender Equality
Authoring Agency: United Nations
This online training course introduces foundational information on gender equality and UN coherence. It aims to strengthen gender programming knowledge required for UN staff, build skills on gender equality required for UN program staff, and identify positive entry points for strengthened programming.

Partners and Allies Toolkit for Meaningful Adolescent Girl Engagement
Authoring Agency: The Coalition for Adolescent Girls
Publication Date: December 2015
Members of the Coalition for Adolescent Girls created this toolkit as a resource for practitioners, policy-makers, advocates, researchers, donors and governments to engage adolescent girls as partners and allies in activities and structures of institutions, programs, and projects. The goal of this toolkit is to enable institutions, programs, and project teams to strategically and meaningfully engage girls as equal and active participants in the leadership and development of their communities, nations, and the world.

Resource Guide: Violence Against Women and Girls
Authoring Agencies: George Washington University Global Women’s Institute, World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, and International Center for Research on Women
Publication Date: December 2014

The purpose of the guide is to provide the reader with basic information on the characteristics and consequences of violence against women and girls (VAWG), including the operational implications that VAWG can have in several priority sectors of the IDB and WBG. It also offers guidance on how to integrate VAWG prevention and the provision of quality services to violence survivors within a range of development projects.

Respecting, Protecting, and Fulfilling Our Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: A Toolkit for Young Leaders
Authoring Agency: Women Deliver
Publication Date: March 2015

This toolkit aims to equip people under thirty with the knowledge and skills to become active young leaders and experts on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).  It highlights important aspects of SRHR and provides additional resources to help build the user’s knowledge and ability to take action.

Teaching Module: Child Marriage
Authoring Agency: Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: January 2014

This teaching module provides insightful discussion and essay questions focused on the issue of child, early, and forced marriage.

The Clinical Management of Children and Adolescents Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence
Authoring Agencies: AIDSTAR-One and Together for Girls
Publication Date: February 2013

These Technical Considerations aim to serve as a guide for primary health providers on the appropriate care of children and adolescents who have experienced sexual violence and exploitation based on current, evidence-based practices.

The Education We Want: An Advocacy Toolkit
Authoring Agencies: GEFI Youth Advocacy Group, A World at School, Plan International, UNICEF, and UNGEI
Publication Date: 2014

This toolkit is for anyone who believes passionately in the power of education as a force for good in the world and the right for all children to get a good quality education, no matter where they are and what the circumstances. Included in the toolkit are real stories of change, led by young people, from all over the world.

The Full Participation Project: The Full Participation Plan
Authoring Agency: The Clinton Foundation
Publication Date: 2015

“The Full Participation Plan” assesses the data on the gains and gaps in progress for women and girls over the past two decades.  Designed as a roadmap for accelerating progress, the plan identifies five principles for action and ten priorities for the twenty-first century that will help unlock the potential of women and girls.

The Good School Toolkit
Authoring Agency: Raising Voices
Publication Date: 2015

This toolkit, which was developed with the help of schools in Uganda, helps educators and students explore what makes a healthy, vibrant, and positive school and guides them through the process of creating their vision. It has been shown to reduce the risk of physical violence perpetrated by teachers and school.

Thinking Outside the Separate Space: A Decision-Making Tool for Designing Youth-Friendly Services
Authoring Agencies: Evidence to Action and USAID
Publication Date: February 2015

This tool was developed for the international sexual and reproductive health community to help program designers select and adapt appropriate youth-friendly service delivery models.  It can help designers develop a well-adapted and contextualized model of youth-friendly services.

Voices Against Violence Curriculum
Authoring Agencies: UN Women and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
Publication Date: 2013

Designed for various age groups ranging from five to twenty-five years, this curriculum provides young people with tools and expertise to understand the root causes of violence in their communities, to educate and involve their peers and communities to prevent such violence, and to learn about where to access support if violence is experienced.

Violence Against Women and Girls
Authoring Agency: The Lancet
Publication Date: November 2014

The Lancet Series on Violence Against Women and Girls contains multiple papers covering the evidence base for interventions, the vital role of the health sector in care and prevention, and the need for men and women to be involved in effective program.

Violence, Gender, and WASH: A Practitioner’s Toolkit
Authoring Agency: SHARE
Publication Date: 2014

This toolkit was developed in response to an acknowledgement that although the lack of access to appropriate water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH) is not the root cause of violence, it can lead to increased vulnerabilities to violence of varying forms.

Walking Prey: How America’s Youth are Vulnerable to Sex Slavery Voices Against Violence Curriculum
Author: Holly Austin Smith
Publication Date: 2014

Walking Prey is an academic non-fiction book about the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), including child sex trafficking, in the United States.  The book discusses predisposing factors to CSEC, community risk factors, and how to engage with victim advocates, healthcare providers, and law enforcement.

Women’s Empowerment: Multidimensional Evaluation of Agency, Social Capital, and Relations
Authoring Agency: CARE
Publication Date: 2014

To strengthen and standardize the measurement of women’s empowerment in their programs, CARE developed a new, multidimensional quantitative survey tool.  The tool consists of twenty short scales that measure empowerment in domains critical to sexual, reproductive, and maternal health.  Programs can utilize the entire set of scales or select a sub-set of scales that measure the specific dimensions of empowerment that their program is designed to influence.

Evaluations, Assessments, and Surveys

Adolescent Girls and Economic Assets: Programme Mapping
Authoring Agencies: Department for International Development and Girl Hub
Publication Date: March 2013

Physical and economic assets, combined with family and community support, can provide adolescent girls with a pathway out of poverty.  This matrix gives an overview of the results of an accompanying paper that analyzed programs dedicated to providing girls with the assets they need to escape poverty.

Adolescent Girls in Northern Nigeria: Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Opportunities Profile
Authoring Agency: Mercy Corps
Publication Date: February 2013

Through this assessment, Mercy Corps profiled 1,800 adolescent girls from across the North West States of kano, Katsina, and Jigawa to identify key barriers and opportunities for financial inclusion and entrepreneurship.

Breaking Ground: 2015 Treaty Monitoring Bodies on Reproductive Rights
Authoring Agencies: Center for Reproductive Rights
Publication Date: 2015

This annual publication summarizes the jurisprudence from United Nations treaty monitoring bodies on reproductive rights, and details the inequalities that girls and women face in their attempts at accessing comprehensive, high-quality reproductive health and education. It is intended to provide treaty body experts and human rights advocates with succinct, accessible information on the standards being adopted across treaty monitoring bodies surrounding these rights.

Can Economic Assets Increase Girls’ Risk of Sexual Harassment? Evaluation Results from a Social, Health, and Economic Asset-Building Intervention for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls in Uganda
Authoring Agency: The Population Council
Publication Date: December 2014

This study examines the effect of a multi-dimensional intervention on social, health, and economic assets, as well as experiences of sexual harassment, among vulnerable adolescent girls aged ten to nineteen living in the low income areas of Kampala, Uganda.

Exploring the Links Between Developmental Assets and Sexual and Reproductive Health Among Very Young Adolescents: The Case of Northern Uganda
Authoring Agencies: Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health and Search Institute
Publication Date: 2015

This brief outlines the study design, results, and general findings of research conducted to examine the relationship between developmental assets – such as positive relationships, opportunities, values, skills, and self-perceptions – and positive sexual and reproductive health outcomes in very young adolescents.

Evaluation of Youth-Friendly Health Services in Malawi
Authoring Agencies: USAID, Government of Malawi, World Health Organization, United Nations, and Evidence to Action
Publication Date: June 2014

This evaluation assesses the extent to which youth-friendly health services (YFHS) standards were implemented in Malawi, examines the factors that influence uptake of YFHS at the district and zonal levels, and determines the extent of YFHS in Malawi.

From Evidence to Action – Results from the 2013 Baseline Survey for the BALIKA Project
Authoring Agency: The Population Council
Publication Date: November 2014

The objective of the “BALIKA: Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents” project is to generate programmatic evidence to delay marriage in Bangladesh.  This report documents baseline data from a survey conducted in 96 villages in the districts of Khulna, Narail, and Satkhira on a range of related indicators on education, livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health, and social life.

Good Quality Education for Adolescent Girls (ages 10-18) for an AIDS-Free Future
Authoring Agency: FAWE Zambia
Publication Date: 2014

This paper describes the involvement of Community Action Groups in the decision-making processes in schools as they relate to the advancement of the Zambian child in education. It provides practical insights into the role of community members as school stakeholders in supporting girls’ retention, performance, and completion in the education sector.

Increasing Access to Legal Identity to Improve the Well-Being of Women and Children in Indonesia
Authoring Agency: Child Protection in Crisis Learning Network
Publication Date: March 2015

This webinar examines findings from a recent baseline study on access to legal identity documentation for women and children, particularly the existing barriers to accessing birth and marriage certificates and the effects of being denied such documentation on women and girls.  It also includes information on the implementation of pilot interventions to increase access to legal documentation in underserved areas.

Interventions to Prevent or Reduce Violence Against Women and Girls – A Systematic Review of Reviews
Authoring Agency: The World Bank
Publication Date: 2014

This paper, a systematic review of reviews, synthesizes a wide array of evidence on the effects of violence against women and girls (VAWG) prevention and intervention strategies.  It examines the diversity of geographical contexts, the types of violence addressed, and the numerous approaches that have been used to combat VAWG.

Let Girls Lead External Evaluation Summary
Authoring Agency: Let Girls Lead
Publication Date: 2014
This document summarizes the 2013 external evaluation of the Let Girls Lead model. The evaluation, which was commissioned by the United Nations Foundation, examined the approach and work of Let Girls Lead between 2009 and 2013.

Minors’ Access to Contraceptive Services
Authoring Agency: Guttmacher Institute
Publication Date: July 2015

This brief provides reliable, up-to-date information on the varying levels of access to contraceptive services that minors enjoy in the United States, disaggregated by state of residence.

Minor’s Access to Prenatal Care
Authoring Agency: Guttmacher Institute
Publication Date: July 2015

This brief provides an overview of minors’ ability to access prenatal care in each state.

Samata: Keeping Girls in Secondary School – Project Implementation Design
Authoring Agencies: STRIVE, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, London School of Medicine and Tropical Hygiene, UKAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Manitoba, and the World Bank
Publication Date: March 2013

The document describes the implementation design of Project Samata, a project that aims to ensure 
girls‘ entry into secondary school, keep girls in school till 10th standard and delay their marriage and entry into sex work. 

Scattered Dreams, Broken Promises: An Assessment of the Links between Girls’ Empowerment and Gender-Based Violence in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, Uganda
Authoring Agency: Women’s Refugee Commission
Publication Date: July 2015

This assessment examines the links between girls’ empowerment and gender-based violence in the Kyaka II Refugee Settlement in Uganda.

Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships Evaluation Summary 
Authoring Agencies: RTI International, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of California, and Futures Without Violence
Publication Date: September 2013

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned the independent research firm, RTI International to evaluate Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships, their four-year, teen dating violence (TDV) prevention program, in collaboration with Blue Shield of California Foundation (BCSF) and Futures Without Violence. The Start Strong evaluation is one of the few, and largest, studies to take an in-depth look at healthy relationship development and TDV prevention efforts involving middle school students.

WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education in Freetown, Sierra Leone: An Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools
Authoring Agencies: Emory University, Center for Global Safe Water, and UNICEF
Publication Date: November 2013

In 2012 Emory University and UNICEF collaborated in research aimed to understand the range of challenges faced by girls during menstruation in urban Freetown, Sierra Leone as well as the determinants of those challenges. This report presents the methods, findings and key programmatic recommendations to address menstruation-related challenges among girls.

WASH in Schools Empowers Girls’ Education in Rural Cochabamba, Bolivia: An Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools
Authoring Agencies: SODIS, Emory University, Center for Global Safe Water, and UNICEF
Publication Date: November 2013

This report examines the scope of education and health challenges faced by girls in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Findings will inform strategies that mitigate challenges and appropriately support adolescent girls at school during menstruation.

Women and Girls Safe Spaces: A Guidance Note Based on Lessons Learned from the Syrian Crisis
Authoring Agency: UNFPA
Publication Date: March 2015

This document – based on UNFPA experiences in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey – provides an overview of what safe spaces are, and what key principles should be followed when establishing such spaces in humanitarian and post-crisis contexts. It also highlights lessons learned from other regions and from the child protection and adolescent girls sectors.

Journal Articles

Addressing Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Among Adolescents: Emerging Evidence of Effectiveness
Authors: Rebecka Lundgren and Avni Amin
Publication Date: 2014

This review article examines the risk factors and drivers of gender-based violence among adolescents, including exposure to violence as a child and prior victimization, bullying, poor parental practices, harmful substance use, lack of female empowerment, controlling male behavior, and laws that perpetuate gender inequality.

Adolescent Pregnancy, Birth, and Abortion Rates Across Countries: Levels and Recent Trends
Authors: Gilda Sedgh, Lawrence B. Finer, Akinrinola Bankole, Michelle A. Eilers, and Susheela Singh
Publication Date: February 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine pregnancy rates and outcomes (births and abortions) among 15- to 19-year olds and 10- to 14-year olds in all countries for which recent information could be obtained and to examine trends since the mid-1990s.

Adverse Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes in Adolescent Pregnancies: The Global Network’s Maternal Newborn Health Registry Study
Authors: Fernando Althabe, et al.
Publication Date: June 2015

This article compares maternal and perinatal outcomes of adolescent mothers and mothers aged twenty to twenty-four years based on a prospective, population-based observational study of newborn outcomes in seven low-middle income countries.

College Sexual Assault: A Call for Trauma-Informed Prevention
Authors: Heather L. McCauley and Adam W. Casler
Publication Date: 2015

This editorial emphasizes the importance of research on the prevalence of and strategies for addressing sexual assault on college campuses. It advocates for a trauma-informed response to on-campus sexual assault and comprehensive training programs to help prevent its occurrence.

Healthcare Providers’ Comfort with and Barriers to Care of Transgender Youth
Authors: Stanley R. Vance, Jr., Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher, and Stephen M. Rosenthal
Publication Date: November 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore providers’ clinical experiences, comfort, and confidence with and barriers to providing care to transgender youth.  This study suggests that more training in transgender-related care, available qualified mental health providers, and insurance reimbursement for transgender-related care is needed.

Investing in the Poorest Girls in the Poorest Communities Early Enough to Make a Difference
Author: Judith Bruce
Publication Date: January 2015

This commentary examines the Population Council’s long-standing, targeted, evidence-based approach to adolescent girl programming. It describes the Council’s use of community-based platforms to build programs at scale, including the process of reaching a threshold proportion of girls in a given community to promote normative changes, establishing permanent girls’ spaces, and increasing demand for girls’ programs.

Prevalence of Teen Dating Violence and Co-Occuring Factors Among Middle-School Youth in High-Risk Urban Communities
Authors: Phyllis Holditch Niolin, et al.
Publication Date: February 2015

This study describes the lifetime prevalence of teen dating violence (TDV) perpetration in a sample of middle school students from high-risk urban communities and examines the relation between TDV and related cognitive and behavioral risk factors.

Sexual Self-Efficacy is Linked to Adolescent Females’ Social Advantage
Authoring Agency: Guttmacher Institute
Publication Date: March 2015

This digest examines the connection between adolescent girls’ sexual self-efficacy and their social advantage, focusing on the positive aspects of youth sexuality. The authors suggest that adolescent females who feel empowered to navigate sexual interactions may be able to resist social and gendered pressures that could damage their mental and physical health.

The Boundaries of Girls’ Political Participation: A Critical Exploration of Girls’ Experiences as Delegates to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Author: Emily Bent
Publication Date: June 2013

This article examines the boundaries of girls’ political participation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It explores the structural and conceptual limits to girls’ meaningful political participation, and brings critical attention to the problematic management of girls’ political practices in formal ‘adult’ spaces.

The Case for Addressing Gender and Power in Sexuality and HIV Education: A Comprehensive Review of Evaluation Studies
Author: Nicole A. Haberland
Publication Date: March 2015

This article explores whether the inclusion of content on gender and power norms in sexual health curricula affects program efficacy, ultimately advocating for the inclusion of information on gender and power relations in sexuality and HIV education programs.

The Shrinking World of Girls at Puberty: Violence and Gender-Divergent Access to the Public Sphere Among Adolescents in South Africa
Authors: Kelly K. Hallman, Nora J. Kenworthy, Judith Diers, Nick Swan, and Bashi Devnarain
Publication Date: July 2015

This study analyzes the results from participatory mapping projects undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and draws conclusions about adolescent girls’ abilities to navigate the public sphere safely during puberty.

Understanding Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Adolescents: Evidence from a Formative Evaluation in Wakiso District, Uganda
Authors: Lynn M. Atuyambe, Simon P.S. Kibira, Justine Bukenya, Christine Muhumuza, Rebecca R. Apolot, and Edgar Mulogo
Publication Date: April 2015

This qualitative study assessed the sexual and reproductive health needs of the adolescents in Uganda and explores their attitudes towards the services that are currently available.  It found that adolescents in Uganda have multiple sexual and reproductive health needs that require special focus through adolescent-friendly services.

Where Are We in Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights? Twenty Years from the International Conference on Population and Development
Authors: Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, et al.
Publication Date: January 2015

The Journal of Adolescent Health recently released this supplement examining adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights and the progress made in those areas over the past twenty years. It includes articles on creating an enabling environment for adolescent SRHR, emerging trends in sexuality education, and the intricacies of addressing intimate partner violence among adolescents.