Delivering impact for adolescent girls: Emerging findings from Population Council research

Objectives

The brief aims to synthesize evidence from nine rigorous evaluations of empowerment and asset-building interventions for adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries, with a focus on their effects on education, health, economic outcomes, social capital, gender-equitable attitudes, violence, and age at marriage. It also seeks to document implementation approaches, costs per girl or community member reached, and remaining evidence gaps to guide future program design and investment.

Findings

Across Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, Mexico, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia, interventions that combined safe-space girl groups, skills-building curricula, and community or household components delayed child marriage in several settings and improved school enrollment, literacy or numeracy, sexual and reproductive health knowledge, financial literacy, savings, social capital, and gender-equitable attitudes, especially among younger adolescents.

Conditional cash or asset transfers to households, when layered onto empowerment components, amplified impacts on school progression, delayed marriage, and safer sexual experiences, while stand-alone transfers and individual-level programs produced more mixed effects. Integration of appropriate technologies such as e-readers and health or digital tools was feasible, improved literacy and confidence, and helped bridge the digital divide, but effects on violence were mixed, with some reductions in physical or non-contact violence and many settings showing no short-term change. Cost analyses indicate that multicomponent models can be delivered at per-girl or per-person costs broadly comparable to other adolescent health interventions, though comprehensive models and transfer components are more expensive and require careful planning for scalability.

Summary

This brief brings together evidence from nine rigorous evaluations of girl-centered empowerment and asset-building programs implemented across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It highlights how interventions that combine safe-space groups, skills training, household incentives, and community engagement can delay child marriage, strengthen educational and economic outcomes, improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge, and shift some gender norms. The document synthesizes results from more than 50,000 adolescents and community members to show where these models are most effective, where impacts are limited, and how age, context, and program design shape outcomes

Purpose

The brief was developed to guide policymakers, donors, and practitioners in understanding which approaches best support adolescent girls and how investments can be structured to deliver meaningful change. It aims to inform program design by outlining core components, evaluating costs, and identifying evidence gaps that require further research, particularly around long-term impacts on schooling, marriage, health, economic empowerment, and safety. It also seeks to support strategic planning for scale-up by clarifying what works, why it works, and where additional learning is needed

Audience

The brief is intended for policymakers, donors, programme designers, practitioners, and researchers who work on adolescent girls’ empowerment, child-marriage prevention, education, health, economic strengthening, and gender-norms programming in low- and middle-income countries. It targets stakeholders responsible for funding, designing, adapting, and scaling interventions, as well as those generating evidence to guide decisions on effective multisectoral approaches for adolescent girls