Impower

Info goes here about how this intervention is multi-faceted and falls into 4 different intervention types (list all intervention types here).

This intervention type decreases sexual violence and improves gender norms through education, empowerment, and training which are central to effective prevention. 

trains instructors in high-risk environments to deliver the proven No Means No curricula to girls and boys ages 10-20. Through the program, girls increase their skills in assertiveness, boundary setting, and understanding of their rights, and develop the verbal and physical skills to defend themselves from sexual assault. Boys increase their gender equitable attitudes, learn skills to defend equality, avoid violence, ask for consent, and intervene when witnessing or anticipating sexual assault. NMNW also works to increase girls' and boys’ disclosure of experiences of sexual violence and provide referrals for comprehensive support.

The Empowerment and Livelihood of Adolescents (ELA) program originally began as the Adolescent Development Program (ADP) in Bangladesh in 1998. As of 2008 it has since expanded outside of Bangladesh to Nepal and five African countries as the ELA program: Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Liberia. 

ELA grew out as a combination of several ADP interventions done in Bangladesh with other interventions added according to the country context. 

The ELA program seeks to offer hundreds of thousands of adolescent girls the opportunity for a better life through livelihoods, mentorship, life skills training and microfinance. It targets girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, aged between 10-22, and the participants can be both in school and out of school, with the majority being out of school. ELA in Africa works independently from the public education system, but works closely with the national ministries of youth and gender.

ELA starts with “safe spaces” close to the home, where teens can discuss problems with their peers in small groups and build their social networks, away from the pressures of family and male-centered communities. Health education, confidence building and other life skills are added to the mix.

There is a financial component. For younger girls, the emphasis is on social skills development and creating a savings mentality, but by their mid-teens – the exact age differs from context to context – there is a demand among adolescent girls for livelihood training, financial literacy and sometimes microloans.

The programme targets girls who have dropped out of school, and are at the risk of early marriage or pregnancy. It operated adolescent clubs - safe spaces run by older girls selected from the communities. They are rained to deliver life-skills and sexual and reproductive health education, as well as mentor younger girls in exchange for a small lump-sum incentive. The clubs opened five afternoons a week.

In later years, livelihood training on income-generating activities and financial literacy was delivered by entrepreneurs and professionals for the senior out-of-school girls (above 15). After the training, they were eligible for a small loan to capitalise on their acquired skills. To further support girls, meetings with parents and village elders were organised periodically.

Adolescent clubs operated in 10 communities, mentoring 300 girls between the ages 10-22. These serve as a social space for girls who learn and share their reproductive and sexual health issues and provide relevant learning materials and support recreational activities such as reading, dancing, and indoor and outdoor games.

The ELA programme draws on the lessons learnt in Bangladesh where 9,000 clubs have been reaching over one million girls since 1993. Designed for the pre-Ebola context, the programme operated through safe clubs set up in the villages and opened five afternoons a week. Senior girls from the community were trained to run the clubs and act as mentors. They hosted life-skills and sexual reproductive health training which was the only component rolled-out before the Ebola. 

This intervention bundled health education, vocational skills training, and micro-credit. Concurrently, the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic led to school closures across Sierra Leone. While girls experienced higher teen pregnancy and lower school attendance post-Ebola, ELA clubs mitigated many of these negative effects of epidemic-spurred school closures. Girls above 17 benefited from vocational training and at 18 they were offered microfinance loans to capitalise on acquired skills. 

The clubs protected human capital accumulation, which is pivotal for future labour market opportunities.