Girl-Centered Program Design: A Toolkit to Develop, Strengthen & Expand Adolescent Girls Programs

As girls approach adolescence, they face the start of a narrow bridge. As they move through adolescence they must cross this bridge, emerging at the end as adult young women. However, the bridge through adolescence is a risky one for girls. They are significantly more vulnerable than their male counterparts and are more likely to fall off the bridge. Adolescent girls face poorer health outcomes, are more likely to become infected with HIV, more socially isolated, less likely to make the transition to secondary school or to complete it, and have fewer income-generating opportunities.

The chapters in this toolkit build on each other. Chapters 1–6 focus on structuring a program that works with girls. The chapters address the various steps in preparing to set up the program and to start and run the girls’ activities. Chapters 7–11 focus on the content of the programs—that is, how you decide what topics to cover and what kind of activities you do with the girls. Chapters 12–13 focus on monitoring and evaluation—how you keep track of what you are doing, who you are working with, and if your work is making a difference. At the end are lists of partners, donors and other resources for adolescent girls programs.

This toolkit is meant for anyone who is interested in working with adolescent girls ages 10–241 . It can be used by anyone who is designing or running a program, someone writing a proposal to work with girls, or staff working directly with girls who need fresh ideas on how to strengthen program activities. It can be used by people who are starting to work with girls in a targeted way for the first time, or those who already have a girls program but are trying to strengthen or expand it.