LIVELIHOOD OPTIONS FOR GIRLS: - Health Policy Initiative

PROGRAM OPTIONS: RURAL#6Demographic ProfileSex: Female Age: 10–19 Marital Status: UnmarriedEducation: Out of School Residence: Rural Employed: Yes, in rural areaIllustrative Gender-based Constraints• Little or no direct control over assets, even though employed.• Beliefs that run counter to sending girls to school.• Little or no independent decisionmaking and isolation frominformation and peers.• Time constraints due to responsibilities for domestic laborand employment.• Girls’ workplaces may be unsafe, as may travel to andfrom work.• Employment may be seasonal and insecure.• Restrictions on girls’ mobility may limit employmentopportunities.3. To delay marriage• Girls clubs to learn literacy, numeracy, andvocational skills• Non-formal education and vocational skills training• Business skills trainingIllustrative Documented Programs(evaluated or in written form)Business skills, savings, and loans• There are many rotating credit programs throughoutthe world, although usually they are not sponsoredby development projects but are formed by groups ofadults informally. For adolescents, youth programs withan educational focus may introduce these programs asIllustrative Gender-baseda complementary component to financial literacy, sexOpportunitieseducation, or vocational training as a way of teaching money• If girls are working because of their families’ economicmanagement skills.constraints, offsetting the need for girls’ income may• Rural savings clubs for girls often are connected toencourage them to keep girls in school.microcredit programs for older women or older adolescents• Opportunities for employment in rural areas may encourage (e.g., IMAGE in South Africa, TRY in Kenya).a girl’s family to postpone her marriage.• Kishori Abhijan, a UNICEF pilot intervention in• Opportunities for rural employment or income generation Bangladesh, provided life skills and livelihood training foralso may lessen the pressure for girls to migrate to urban girls in 14 villages. Implemented by BRAC and CMES,areas, where employment may put them at greater risk.the program involved enhancing self-esteem and leadershipskills, as well as education related to gender roles anddiscrimination, health and nutrition, and legislation andLivelihood Program Optionslegal rights, particularly early marriage and girls’ and1. To increase their access to resources and social support women’s rights. Livelihoods training included various• Savings clubs (e.g., rotating credit programs) and financial specific vocational skills, such as poultry care, handicrafts,literacy training sewing, photography, and teacher training (Amin, 2007).• Peer support groups and safe meeting places• Population Council, University of KwaZulu Natal, and• Mentoring relationships with older female relatives to Tulane University’s Operational Research in KwaZulu Natallearn market and agricultural skills (where opportunities provided safe spaces for youth to gather and extended socialfor agribusiness or commerce exist)networks by linking youth to community mentors to reducesocial isolation and build positive social relationships with2. To encourage school attendanceadults. There was also a financial management component• Conditional cash transfers and scholarships for books, that taught participants how to budget, save, plan theirtransportation, and feesfutures, and identify safe and appropriate income-generating• Programs that focus on addressing non-economicactivities. They also participated in sessions on HIV/AIDSconstraints to school attendance, such as gender-based awareness (Hallman et al., 2007).violence, separate facilities for girls where culturallyappropriate, and separate dormitories/bathroomsLIVELIHOOD OPTIONS FOR GIRLS: A GUIDE FOR PROGRAM MANAGERS | 11