LIVELIHOOD OPTIONS FOR GIRLS: - Health Policy Initiative

PROGRAM OPTIONS: RURAL2Demographic Profile# Sex: Female Age: 15–19 Marital Status: MarriedEducation: Out of School Residence: Rural Employed: NoIllustrative Gender-based Constraints• Access is through the husband or husband’s family; thereis little or no independent access to food, shelter, andproductive or financial resources.• Little or no access to education (formal or informal).• Limited mobility outside of the home constrains access toservices and financial opportunities (this varies by locationbut generally is the case in comparison with unmarried peers).• Increased vulnerability to gender-based violence, whichfurther limits independent decisionmaking, mobility, controlover resources, and access to health information.• Limited decisionmaking power within household andcommunity.• Social isolation from peers, especially those who are notmarried, and possibly from the natal family.• Little discretionary time due to responsibilities for householdchores and childcare.reproductive health for young women so as to delay theneed to turn to marriage as an economic support strategy2. To increase married girls’ access to and control overresources and expand social support networks• Married girls clubs• Microcredit (when a close female relative also is involvedto serve as a mentor)• Agriculture or agribusiness paired with literacy and numeracy training linked to market opportunities• Savings clubsIllustrative Documented Programs(evaluated or in written form)Microcredit programs• The IMAGE Project is a collaboration between theRural AIDS and Development Action Research Program(RADAR) and the Small Enterprise Foundation in SouthAfrica to strengthen women’s capacity to make decisions andnegotiate more effectively in sexual relationships for HIVprevention. IMAGE addresses gender-based violence andIllustrative Gender-basedHIV through microfinance and community mobilizationOpportunitiesagainst gender-based violence. Married and unmarried• Many retain strong ties with older female relatives (e.g., adolescent girls participated; although, married adolescentsaunts, grandmothers), even when moving away to live with were not the exclusive target audience. Information ishusband/husband’s family; these women have the potential available through RADAR at http://web.bu.edu/av/iaen/to mentor and provide information if engaged through research-library-1/docs/13435/Pronyk_et_al.pdf.programs with younger married girls.Girls clubs • Maternal health services may be viewed as legitimate for • PATH is working closely with several churches inmarried adolescent girls and may serve as appropriateRachuonyo, Kenya, to establish married girls clubs tosettings for programs, particularly where mobility isprovide girls venues for receiving information, advice,constrained.and social support. The clubs, managed by a local faithbasedorganization, include livelihood and mentoringopportunities with adult married women and the periodicLivelihood Program Optionsassembly of larger extended family groups, including1. To delay marriage at an early age husbands and in-laws.• Conditional cash transfer programs to encourage families • Berhane Hewan (Light for Eve) in rural Ethiopiato keep girls in school and delay marriageprovides functional literacy, life skills, livelihoods skills,• Constructive involvement of adult men and womenand reproductive health education and health servicesto support livelihood options (education, vocationalfor girls ages 10–19. Information is available from thetraining, and business skills development) in conjunction Population Council at http://www.popcouncil.org/projects/with HIV prevention and access to family planning/TA_EthiopiaBerhane.html.LIVELIHOOD OPTIONS FOR GIRLS: A GUIDE FOR PROGRAM MANAGERS | 7