What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review WHAT WORKS FOR ADOLESCENTS’ EMPOWERMENT A Learning Review Research Report Funded by i The International Center for Research for Women (ICRW) is a global research institute, with regional hubs in Washington D.C., United States; New Delhi, India; Kampala, Uganda; and Nairobi, Kenya. Established in 1976, ICRW conducts research to identify practical, actionable solutions to advance the economic and social status of women and girls around the world. ICRW Asia works on a range of issues such as inadequate access to education and livelihoods, adolescent empowerment, gender-based violence (GBV), masculinities, gender inequitable attitudes, HIV, and violence against women and girls (VAWG). For more information, please visit www.icrw.org/asia. Suggested Citation Nanda, S., Sharma, S., Anand, S., Pal, P., Nandi, S. 2020. What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review. New Delhi: International Center for Research on Women. Cover Photo Girls indulge in humor during an adolescent girls’ group gathering in Gujarat, India. A scene from the film, Parwaaz | Flight (2019), produced by ICRW Asia and directed by Mixed Media Productions. Disclaimer The research reported in this publication was conducted as part of a study undertaken by ICRW Asia, What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review, supported by the Ford Foundation. The facts and information in this report may be reproduced with prior permission from ICRW and/or Ford Foundation. The publication can be quoted/cited with the suggested citation in place. ii What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review WHAT WORKS FOR ADOLESCENTS’ EMPOWERMENT A Learning Review Research Report iii Girls engage in discussions on awareness campaigns and playacting as part of adolescent girls’ group sessions in West Bengal, India. Scenes from Parwaaz | Flight (2019), produced by ICRW Asia and directed by Mixed Media Productions. A scene from the film, Parwaaz | Flight (2019), produced by ICRW Asia and directed by Mixed Media Productions. iv What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Learning Review on What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment was undertaken with support from Ford Foundation to draw strategic learnings from a decade of programming for adolescent girls. This study involved months of conversations with all research partners, who supported the process, contextualization and meaning making of complex phenomena. We are deeply grateful to all participants, who voluntarily and patiently participated in the study. We thank our support staff in all study districts, who adjusted through multiple plan changes and long days of fieldwork. We thank senior team members from all participant organizations for their insights and support throughout the process. We are also grateful for facilitation of fieldwork by Karuna Phillip and her team at MJAS, Ajmer; Sangeeta Maurya at SAHAYOG and Gayatri Pratap Singh at Vimarsh, Nainital; Arnab Karar and Abhishek at CINI, Murshidabad; Seema Shah and Arundhati Sridhar at ANANDI, Devgadh Baria; Manushi Parikh at SAHAJ, Vadodara; and Harish at SARTHI, Surendranagar; Reena Sinha at Breakthrough, Hazaribagh; Anoop Kumar at Jagori Rural, Dharamshala; and Praveer Goyal at MAMTA, Jaipur. We also thank experts from Women’s Fund Asia; Centre for Reproductive Rights, Kathmandu; Women Power Connect; Centre for Catalyzing Change; The YP Foundation and CREA, who took out the time to interact with us and helped us shape the study. We thank Vanita Mukherjee, who facilitated this grant, for her vision and support and Aparna Uppaluri, Ford Foundation, for her guidance and reflections throughout the process. We acknowledge with gratitude our colleagues at ICRW Asia – Ravi Verma for his conceptual inputs; Subhalakshmi Nandi for her crucial insights and Sakshi Garg for program assistance. We also acknowledge the contributions of Priyanka Banerjee, Prabhleen Tuteja and Hemlata Verma during the conceptualization and design of the study. We would like to thank Aishwarya Sahay for her contributions to desk research and transcriptions. We are grateful to Shreya Seth (West Bengal), Parigna Talati and Minaxi Shukla (Gujarat) for language interpretation during fieldwork, and translation and transcription of interviews in Bangla and Gujarati. We also thank Mamata Hossain and Aditi Mukherjee for translation and transcription of interviews in Hindi. We are thankful to Archana Dwivedi, Nirantar Trust, for her review of this report. We thank all participants of the Experts Convening (held on February 12, 2020) for their reflections, which have added richness to the analysis of findings. We would also like to acknowledge the work of several organizations and institutes, for their free source publications and knowledge products, which have helped in conceptualizing the analysis. Research Team Members Srishty Anand, Sharmishtha Nanda, Poulomi Pal and Sneha Sharma 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AEP Adolescence Education Program AGAJ Aware Girls Action for Justice AJWS American Jewish Welfare Service ANANDI Area Network and Development Initiatives ASHA Accredited social health activist BMGF Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEFM Child Early and Forced Marriage CINI Child in Need Institute CRR Center for Reproductive Rights DDU-GKY Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana ECFM Early Child and Forced Marriage ECM Early and Child Marriage FGD Focus Group Discussion NEG-FIRE New Education Group – Foundation for Innovation and Research in Education GAGE Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence GBV Gender-based violence GEAS Global Early Adolescence Study HAQ-CRC HAQ-Centre for Child Rights ICDS Integrated Child Development Services ICRW International Center for Research on Women IDI In-Depth Interview IDRC International Development Research Centre IIPS International Institute for Population Sciences KII Key Informant Interview MAMTA-HIMC MAMTA-Health Institute for Mother and Child MJAS Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti MOHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MP Madhya Pradesh NESPYM North East Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses NFHS National Family Health Survey NGO Non-Governmental Organization 2 What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review NYKS Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan PCMA Prohibition of Child Marriage Act POCSO Protection of Children from Sexual Offences PYD Positive youth development RKSK Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram RMNCH Reproductive, Maternal, neonatal, and child health RMNCHA Reproductive, Maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health RMSA Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan RSEAG-SABLA Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls-SABLA SAARTHI Social Action for Rural and Tribal In-Habitants of India SAG Scheme for Adolescent Girls SAHAJ Society for Health Alternatives SAHAYOG Society for Participatory Rural Development SAIEVAC South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children SRHR Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan STI Sexually transmitted infection SWATI Society for Women’s Action and Training Initiative UK Uttrakhand UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UP Uttar Pradesh VAWG Violence Against Women and Girls WCD Women and Child Development WFA Women’s Fund Asia WGCD Women and Girls at the Center of Development WHO World Health Organization WPC Women Power Connect 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 METHODOLOGY 7 LEARNINGS 12 Section 1: Background and Context of the Projects Included in the Review 12 Section 2: Organizational Ideology and Values: How Does it Influence Program Strategies 13 Section 3: Mapping and Measurements for Adolescent Empowerment Programs 16 Section 4: Promising Strategies for Adolescents’ Empowerment 17 Strategy 1 Designing convergent and ecological approaches 18 Strategy 2 Unpacking masculinities 22 Strategy 3 Building safe and collective spaces 25 Strategy 4 Promoting sports for empowerment 27 Strategy 5 Deepening agency 30 Strategy 6 Addressing the fear of everyday violence 33 Strategy 7 Prioritizing girls’ aspirations 35 WAY FORWARD 39 END NOTES 42 REFERENCES 44 ANNEXURES 48 Annexure 1: List of Adolescent Policies in India 49 Annexure 2: List of Documents from Research Partners Utilized for Desk Research 52 Annexure 3: Brief Snapshot of the grants which were part of the review 53 Annexure 4: Breakup of Research Activities per Field Site 56 Annexure 5: List of Code Families 57 Annexure 6: List of Experts (KIIs) 59 Annexure 7: List of Participants (Experts Convening on Learning Review on 60 What Works for Adolescents Empowerment) Annexure 8: A brief note on state specific gender norms and barriers for adolescent 61 empowerment as narrated by respondents 4 What Works for Adolescents’ Empowerment: A Learning Review INTRODUCTION Global consensus is well established on the need to of women as a product of unequal power relations understand the nuances of adolescent experiences between men and women, manifested in asymmetries to design programs, policies and institutions that in the gender division of productive and reproductive are responsive to their concerns and enable healthy, labor, paid and unpaid work, material resources, productive transitions to adulthood. However, laws social recognition and the distribution of authority and policies are formulated in a manner that do not and decision-making power (Kohli,