Solutions Panorama

Address HIV Risks Among
Adolescents
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, girls and young
women make up 71 percent of new HIV
infections among the adolescent population.
Launched in June 2015, the DREAMS
project (Determined, Resilient, Empowered,
AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) aims for
an AIDS-free generation, addressing the
vulnerabilities of girls and women. Following
a holistic approach, the program addresses
risk drivers within and outside the health
sector, such as poverty, gender inequality,
sexual violence, and education. DREAMS
rests upon six pillars: 1) strengthening
service delivery capacity; 2) keeping girls in
secondary school; 3) linking men to services;
4) supporting prophylaxis; 5) providing a
bridge to employment; and 6) applying data
to increase impact.
Drive Equitable Education
Nearly 3 million Sudanese children are missing
out on basic education – the highest rate of
out-of-school children in Northern Africa.
Targeting the most vulnerable, a UNICEFsupported
program in Sudan provides direct
support to 600,000 children who are out of
school or at risk of leaving. Following a threepronged
approach, the program encourages
children aged six to nine to enroll directly
into the formal education system; offers an
Alternative Learning Program (ALP) curriculum
for older children; and provides teaching
and learning materials. It also rehabilitates
classrooms to include water, sanitation, and
hygiene facilities, making school facilities more
accessible to adolescent girls.
Learn more: womendeliver.org
Learn more: pepfar.gov
Measure Women’s Economic
Participation
Offer Micro-Credit Options to Women
Established in Bangladesh in 1976, the Grameen
Bank launched a worldwide movement towards
financial inclusion of women, targeting those
living in poverty. Its focus on micro-credit has
evolved over the years, recognizing a need for
more comprehensive and systemic financial
services for poor women, including cash
transfers, loans, credit, savings, insurance,
and corresponding capacity building support.
In addition, more expansive lines of financial
services — such as risk-sharing facilities,
equity, and larger credit lines — have been
made available to women with the help of
private sector banks and institutions like the
International Finance Corporation. Today there
are numerous successful micro-credit programs
across the globe.
Learn more: grameen-info.org
Women count. Count them. And count them
in. In an effort to improve the quantity and
quality of data on girls and women – a critical
step to addressing inequalities – two separate
initiatives, Data 2X and the Clinton Foundation’s
No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, strive
to close the gender data gap by measuring girls’
and women’s participation. A United Nations
Foundation platform with support from the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Data 2X seeks
to monitor progress by measuring women’s
versus men’s economic participation, as well
as their control and decision-making power
over assets, resources, and income. The Clinton
Foundation’s No Ceilings: The Full Participation
Project, meanwhile, measures progress toward
realizing the equal participation of girls and
women across multiple sectors.
Learn more: womendeliver.org
WOMEN DELIVER 2016 CONFERENCE: SOLUTIONS PANORAMA 128