Girl-Centered Program Design
As they make the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescent girls face poorer health outcomes, are more likely to become infected with HIV, become moresocially isolated, are less likely to attend secondary school or to complete it, and have fewer income-generating opportunities than boys.
Typically, general programs for youth do not include adolescent girls. In order to reach them, programs must be designed with adolescent girls as the target audience.
This toolkit is meant for those interested in working with adolescent girls ages 10–24. It can be used by anyone who is designing or running a program, someone writing a proposal to work with girls, or staff working directly with girls who need fresh ideas on how to strengthen program activities. It can be used by people who are starting to work with girls in a targeted way for the first time, or those who already have a girls program but are trying to strengthen or expand it.
The toolkit has three main sections: the first focuses on structure, the second on content, and the third on monitoring and evaluation. Within each chapter is an introduction to the topic, examples from existing programs for girls, and practical, user-friendly tools.
We invite you to download the toolkit from Population Council or using the links below
Complete toolkit (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Front matter and introduction (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Section 1: Which Girls and Why (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Chapter 1: Which Girls Do You Want to Work With?
Chapter 2: Needs Assessments—Understanding the Girls You Are Working With
Section 2: Determining Program Structure (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Chapter 3: Core Elements of the Safe Spaces Model—”Creating the Pot”
Chapter 4: Recruitment—How Do You Get the Girls You Want into Your Program
Chapter 5: Leadership Development and Mentoring
Chapter 6: Working with Families and Critical Adults
Section 3: Determining Program Content (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Chapter 7: The Asset Building Approach
Chapter 8: Economic Strengthening Programming
Chapter 9: Reproductive Health and HIV Information & Clinical Services
Chapter 10: Addressing Sexual and Gender Based Violence
Chapter 11: Reaching Extremely Vulnerable Groups of Adolescent Girls
Section 4: Monitoring & Evaluation (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Chapter 12: Monitoring
Chapter 13: Evaluation
Section 5: Annexes (PDF; lower-resolution PDF)
Tools/Handouts
Resources (PDF)
Tools presented in the toolkit are available as Word documents:
- Chapter 1: Sample coverage exercise
- Chapter 2: Cash flow tool; Community safety mapping tool; “A day in the life” tool; Ranking tool
- Chapter 3: Safety scan tools
- Chapter 5: Sample schedule for training of trainers
- Chapter 6: Sample agenda for parent meeting; Sample topic guide for focus group discussion with parents
- Chapter 7: Asset cards (version 1, version 2); Asset list; Asset timeline
- Chapter 10: Preparedness worksheet for responding to SGBV
- Chapter 12: Intake register questions; Sample meeting/activity log; Sample intake register 1; Sample intake register 2
- Chapter 13: Evaluation planning worksheet; Sample program evaluation form; Sample asset measuring questions; Sample training participant evaluation form
Fuente: Population Council
