POWER TO THE GIRLS! Reflect and learn on how to drive change for girls December 2015 1 Preface 2015 is an important year for the Girl Power Alliance. fully and equally participate in their societies. Harmful potential for development and peace. Gender equality is Taking stock of five years of collaboration, the alliance norms and traditions change only slowly. Governments not only a goal in itself, but a prerequisite for reaching all concludes that the Girl Power Programme contributed and institutions are still a long way from fulfilling their the other international development goals.” 1 to positive changes for more than 1,5 million girls and responsibilities towards girls and young women. young women in ten countries in Asia, Africa and In this publication, the Girl Power Alliance shares some On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Girl Power Latin America. We can confirm that these girls and of its important lessons and experiences. It is not only Alliance young women experience less violence than before the ‘what’ and ‘why’ that matter to convince donors, the programme and increasingly claim their rights. policy makers and practitioners to join their eforts for Monique van ‘t Hek (Director Plan Nederland) Discriminatory and harmful practices against them have Girl Power; taking an in-depth look at the ‘how’ often Sheila Donovan (Executive Director Child Helpline become less acceptable. Additionally, Girl Power partner reveals powerful pathways of change. International) organisations have found practical ways to engage The Alliance would like to thank all the girls, young Aloys van Rest (Director Defence for Children governments at various levels while involving civil women, families, organisations and institutions who International Nederland – ECPAT Nederland) society as an agent for gender equality. shared their insights and experiences for these Girl Ruth Kronenburg (Director of Operations Free Press 2015 is also an important year for the international Power case studies. Our gratitude also goes to the Unlimited) development community: millions of people’s lives Avance evaluation team for their capable work and Mathijs Euwema (Director International Child have improved due to concerted global, regional, commitment. Development Initiatives) national and local eforts to achieve the Millennium Maria Bobenrieth (Executive Director Women Win) Development Goals, and the agenda has been set for The stories are intended to be shared – may they help the next fifteen years of international cooperation. inspire, mobilise and guide many others to contribute to But as we transition to the Sustainable Development gender equality! Goals, it is clear that in the light of emerging global realities, including worsening environmental pressures Because, in the words of Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General and a growing number of middle-income countries of the United Nations: “Investing in women is not only with tremendous internal poverty challenges, girls and the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do. I am young women need continued support. Despite positive deeply convinced that, in women, the world has at its changes, they still face violence and abuse, and cannot disposal the most significant and yet largely untapped 1 Secretary-General Message on International Women’s Day 2008, New York. 2 Table of content Reflect and learn from five unique Girl Power cases 4 Case I. Bolivian girls and boys: helping their voices to be heard 7 Case II. Levelling the playing field for Ethiopian girls: making schools gender sensitive 14 Case III. Giving the girls of Ghana the means to call for help 22 Case IV. Female trekking guides reach great heights in Nepali society 29 Case V. Strengthening networks for a stronger civil society for girls and young women to participate in 37 3 Reflect and learn from five unique Girl Power cases How do you end violence against girls and young Therefore, this publication illustrates the concrete About the Girl Power Alliance and observed changes identified in five cases. As the women and promote gender equality? It’s a tough programme’s success is an interrelated process that question, but we believe that the answer is to The Girl Power Alliance (GPA, also known as The Child addresses the rights of girls and young women on increase female economic and social-political Rights Alliance) is formed by Plan Nederland, Child diferent intervention levels, we believe that conduct- Helpline International, Defence for Children - ECPAT, participation and provide high quality education. ing case studies is a valuable way of exploring how Free Press Unlimited, International Child Development these contributions took place. In other words, by giving girls and young women Initiatives and Women Win. Girl Power! We empower girls and young women The Girl Power Programme resulted in a significant to have a secure and independent life, full of social The Girl Power Programme (GPP, 2011-2015) is a joint drop in physical, sexual, emotional and economic efort to fight the injustices girls and young wom- and economic opportunities. violence against participating girls and young women. en face daily in 10 developing countries. The pro- This can be partly attributed to the programme’s focus Over the past five years the Girl Power Alliance gramme runs in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana, on economic prosperity, social political participation (GPA) ran programmes in ten countries with this Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and and education. Therefore the lessons in this study will goal in mind.During the mid-term review and Zambia. All activities revolve around the protection of not focus on whether or not GPP achieved its objec- girls and young women against violence, (post) pri- end-evaluation the results and impact of the pro- tives (this will be covered in more detail in the Final mary education and economic- and political Evaluation Report) but concentrate on how change gramme on the lives of girls and young women, participation. happened and the knowledge and insights these in ten and four countries respectively, were an- changes reveal. alysed. We realised that while these reports pro- The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Afairs funds the pro- gramme. vide great insights into what has been achieved and Each study focuses on a specific thematic issue, while the global case study addresses the strategies used in how this improved the lives of young girls and young the four evaluation countries to strengthen civil women, they don’t show how this change came about. society’s role in achieving gender equality. 4 Country Theme This case is about Case study approach In order to understand which factors influenced change realised Bolivia Socio- Bolivian girls and boys: helping their political voices to be heard by the GPP, the case studies will assess the underlying processes Stimulating Bolivian youth to organise themselves in behind each achievement. We hope this will give a broader con- youth organisations as a mean to participate in public text to the lessons learned. Using Outcome Harvesting as a refer- decision-making and to improve their role in society. ence, the data collection focused on concrete observed changes and explaining them by logically organizing and structurally cross- Ethiopia Education Levelling the playing field for Ethiopian girls: checking information provided by key stakeholders in the change making schools gender sensitive process. Such changes may be foreseen or unforeseen, intended or Creating safe and girl-friendly school environments to unintended and positive or negative. Respondents were invited to positively change the lives of Ethiopian girls and young women. give their opinions about the GPP’s contribution to these changes. By exploring five unique case studies, inspirational stories came to Ghana Protection Giving the girls of Ghana the means to call for help light about how crucial changes actually came about. A Child Helpline to give Ghanaian girls and young women the opportunity to speak out, call for help Within each case we looked at the key drivers for change: who and access protection services. were the key contributors? What influence did external political, so- cial events, happenings or stakeholders have? What were the most Nepal Economic Female trekking guides reach great heights important lessons learned? And what would we do diferently next in Nepali society time? Empowering young Nepali women to become trekking guides and to improve their economic position and living standards in society. All five case studies have been compiled with the intention of pointing out important lessons from the GPP that may prove to be Global Civil Strengthening networks for a stronger civil society valuable for all alliance partners within their future work, as well as Society for girls and young women to participate in anyone else striving to end violence against girls and young wom- Strengthening the networks of Civil Society Organisations en and promoting gender equality. in the four countries, and encourage them to work together to realise gender equality. 5 ment and graduation rates for girls in (post-primary) Strengthening future work How the Girl Power cases were selected education. However, despite these achievements there remain many challenges that need to be overcome in The value of this publication lies in a range of examples The five cases are intended to cover the GPP’s four the quest to fully end violence against girls and young illustrating how five years of hard work made a difer- thematic areas and provide a fair representation women and promote gender equality. We must contin- ence in the position of girls and young women of GPP members’ work. To select these cases every ue to strive for the implementation of the formal policies in four of the ten GPP countries. It is not intended to be a GPP partner was invited to submit the case study and legislation necessary to guarantee the sustainability complete and exhaustive account of everything that has that describes the most significant change achieved of the work of existing alliances and public entities and been done, but a truthful presentation of in their national programme.