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Girls Count: a Global Investment & Action Agenda

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Girls Count: a Global Investment & Action Agenda GIRLS COUNT A GLOBAL INVESTMENT & ACTION AGENDA A GIRLS COUNT REPORT ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS RUTH LEVINE CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT CYNTHIA B. LLOYD POPULATION COUNCIL MARGARET GREENE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN CAREN GROWN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY GIRLS COUNT A GLOBAL INVESTMENT & ACTION AGENDA Cover Photo A girl in Nairobi is learning impor- tant life skills and connecting with her peers at the Binti Pamoja Cen- ter, a safe space for girls in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Photo Credit: Brent Stirton / Getty Images 10 ACTIONS HOW GIRLS TODAY CAN END POVERTY TOMORROW girl-specific focus within country-level HIV plans and COUNT INVEST strategies. Track HIV resources to ensure they reach ADVOCATE and benefit girls. Give adolescent girls Increase funding for Make the law work for an officially recognized adolescent girls—and track Re-orient health delivery adolescent girls identification what it achieves systems to work for Press for the repeal of laws that legitimize discrimi- nation against girls and women in spheres such as Ensure governments register all newborns and Increase bilateral development funding for gender adolescent girls legal personhood, marriage and family, property provide birth certificates to enable access to health equality by 20 percent as part of a comprehensive Provide adolescent girls with services that are rights, and workplace and physical integrity. Work services and education. Furnish government-issued effort to invest in adolescent girls. Mobilize accessible, customized, confidential, and nonjudg- for laws and policies that prohibit gender-based dis- identification cards for all girls and boys over age 10 resources from foundations and corporations mental. Offer check-ups for girls starting at age 10 crimination, address violence and harmful practices, to reduce economic and social exploitation and to to address girls’ needs. Deploy experts on girls that screen for reproductive and sexual health risks and ensure equality of access to health services, prevent girls’ underage marriage. and gender in-country to advise on program design such as domestic violence and unintended preg- education, jobs and earnings, credit, and property and ensure resources reach girls. Press for specific nancy as well as for country-specific health issues ownership. Recognize positive reforms taken by Collect data on adolescent investments for girls by integrating their interests like malaria. Target at-risk pregnant girls to reduce governments and use their actions to encourage and needs in all major initiatives and by beginning maternal mortality and conditions such as fistula. girls and disaggregate it similar steps in neighboring countries or regions. by age such investments as early as 10 years old. Economically empower Track program beneficiaries by age, gender, marital Equip adolescent girls to Expand opportunities for adolescent girls by building status, location, family income, and school enroll- advocate for themselves and ment status in all programs and sectors. Analyze this girls to attend secondary and protecting their assets their communities information to assess whether programs are reach- school Build marketable skills by enhancing the relevance Educate girls on their rights. Train and equip girls to ing adolescent girls—especially the most vulnerable. Provide schooling for all girls through lower secondary of educational curricula and developing after-school educate leaders about their lives and to press for the Regularly report results to increase accountability, school, or to age 16, at a minimum, using subsidies, tutoring and mentoring programs. Develop intern- enforcement of laws and policies that protect and share learnings, target solutions, demonstrate suc- scholarships, and conditional cash transfers to make ships, apprenticeships, and training opportunities to enhance their rights. Engage girls in creating and cess, and catalyze more resources. school affordable for disadvantaged girls. Expand promote girls’ transitions to safe and productive live- executing programs and services that improve their primary school facilities to house secondary school lihoods. Offer financial education programs—both own lives and those of their families and communities. classes. Invest in non-formal schooling options to formal and nonformal—for girls at age 10–14 to build reach the most vulnerable girls. Track enrollment, economic assets and financial literacy early in life. completion rates, and the percentage of girls at grade- Work with microfinance and banking institutions to Mobilize communities, for-age to measure progress. design services for girls, including savings accounts families, men, and boys to so girls can protect their assets. support adolescent girls Refocus HIV/AIDS prevention Support religious and community leaders and head strategies to focus on teachers to foster healthier, more supportive commu- adolescent girls nities where girls can create and execute their own solutions. Engage men and boys as program Implement prevention programs targeted to girls co-beneficiaries and as important agents of solutions. to address the disproportionate infection rates of girls to boys. Create a girl-specific focus within the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to innovate new approaches and advocate for a ii iii GIRLS COUNT A GLOBAL INVESTMENT & ACTION AGENDA A GIRLS COUNT REPORT ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS RUTH LEVINE CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT CYNTHIA B. LLOYD POPULATION COUNCIL MARGARET GREENE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN CAREN GROWN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY The Center for Global Development, The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Washington 20036 directors or funders of the Center for Global Development, the Population Council, © 2009 The Center for Global Development or the International Center for Research on Women. First edition 2008. Second edition 2009 ISBN: 978-1-933286-41-9 (2009) ISBN: 978-1-933286-25-9 (2008) Ruth Levine, et al. 2008. Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda. Reprint, 2009. Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development v GIRLS COUNT: A Global ACTION & Investment Agenda Contents GIRLS COUNT CONTENTS x Foreword 20 Better health and education for girls today lead to a healthier, better-educated xii Acknowledgements next generation xiii Preface 22 Chapter 3: We are failing our girls in eco- nomic opportunities, education, domestic 1 Executive summary burdens, and protection from harm 1 Why girls matter most 24 Girls lack formal recognition, legal protection, and social networks 1 We are failing our girls 26 Girls bear many burdens 2 A starting agenda for girls 30 Girls are missing out on schooling through 3 Governments in developing countries the secondary level must act 34 Why girls don’t make it through school 4 The donor community and technical agencies must act 35 Girls lack economic opportunities 5 Private employers must act 44 Chapter 4: Child marriage, risk of HIV, and sexual violence: how girls are 6 Civil society must act affected and what can be done 8 Chapter 1: Economic growth, poverty 46 Child marriage reduction, and girls 56 Violence against girls and young women 10 Why adolescents? 62 Chapter 5: Taking action now. Where 11 Why girls? to start? 11 Why now? 64 The broad agenda includes three key actions: 13 Improving the lives of girls and young women 65 Governments in developing countries must act 14 Chapter 2: Girls matter to the world 68 The donor community and technical 16 Girls and young women are entitled to agencies must act their rights 70 Private employers must act 16 Girls and young women have crucial roles in their countries, communities, and families 71 Civil society must act 18 Economic growth can occur with a more 74 References competitive labor force and lower dependency ratios 86 About the authors 20 Improving the condition of girls and women fosters an involved citizenry and stronger governance vii GIRLS COUNT: A Global ACTION & Investment Agenda BOxES, FIGURES & MAPS GIRLS COUNT BOxES, FIGURES & MAPS — Boxes 33 3.4 Share of 15-year-olds who did not reach level 1 competence in reading 12 1.1 Rapid improvements are possible assessment in PISA test, by gender, 2006 (percent) 27 3.1 In their own words: poor infrastructure and girls’ work 33 3.5 Share of 15-year-olds who did not reach level 1 competence in mathematics 30 3.2 Evidence of the learning gap in India assessment in PISA test, by gender, 2006 (percent) 32 3.3 Migrant girls and schooling 37 3.6 Gender segmentation and wage 34 3.4 Reaching marginalized girls in inequality in the informal sector Rajasthan through community schools 48 4.1 Share of girls ages 20–24 ever 35 3.5 Addressing child labor married by age 18, by household income group (percent) 40 3.6 In their own words: the riskiness of girls’ working conditions 53 4.2 Young people (ages 15–24) living with HIV, by gender, 2005 (percent) 52 4.1 Sexual violence in Cambodia 54 4.3 Share of girls ages 15–19 who have ex- 58 4.2 Health consequences of violence perienced physical or sexual violence from against girls and young women an intimate partner, 2000–03 (percent) 59 4.3 The girl-trafficking epidemic 61 4.4 Men and boys as part of the solution — Maps 65 5.1 Methodology behind the cost analysis 47 4.1 Share of women ages 20–24 ever married by age 18 — Figures 16 2.1 Adolescent population (ages 10–24 male & female) as a share of population, by region, 2005 18 2.2 Returns to investment in schooling in developing countries, by gender level 28 3.1 Younger adolescents (ages 10–14) not attending school, by gender, various years (percent) 29 3.2 Older adolescents (ages 15–19) not attending secondary school, by gender, various years (percent) 31 3.3 Low-income younger adolescents (ages 10–14) not attending secondary school, by gender, various years (percent) viii ix GIRLS COUNT: A Global ACTION & Investment Agenda FOREWORD GIRLS COUNT Foreword If you want to change the world, invest in an first step? Uncover adolescent girl–specific data and Rebecca Jackson at Maplecroft join the ranks of adolescent girl.
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