Publication:
The Spirit of Boldness: Lessons from the World Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.08 MB)
503 downloads
English Text (182.28 KB)
79 downloads
Date
2015-02
ISSN
Published
2015-02
Editor(s)
Abstract
The adolescent girl’s initiative (AGI) was motivated by the idea that vocational training and youth employment programs tailored to the needs of girls and young women can improve the economic empowerment and agency. By putting that idea into practice in a number of ways, the AGI pilots are making it possible to learn about the demand for such programs and whether in their current form they are a feasible and (in some cases) cost-effective means of meeting their objectives. Adolescent females in lower-income countries face a difficult environment in their path toward economic empowerment, a critical dimension of adulthood. Females, especially from low-income countries, want to participate in programs to support their economic empowerment. Effective programs shared certain features that made it possible for them to reach adolescent girls and young women and successfully assess and impart the skills that they needed.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank Group. 2015. The Spirit of Boldness: Lessons from the World Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22986 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    The Impact of Private Sector Internship and Training on Urban Youth in Kenya
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-08) Honorati, Maddalena
    This study uses a randomized experiment to evaluate the impacts of the training and internship program piloted in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu counties by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the Government of Kenya with support from the World Bank’s Kenya Youth Empowerment Project. The program provided three months of classroom-based technical training coupled with three months of internships in private firms to vulnerable youths between ages 15 and 29 years, with vulnerable being defined as those out of school and/or with no permanent job. The analysis in this paper is based on survey data collected before the program started (July 2012) and 15 months after the program ended (July 2014). The results of the impact evaluation show that the program has been successful in placing youths in paid jobs and has contributed to an increase of 15 percent in current employment among male participants. The evaluation also found that the program has had positive effects on wage earnings, especially those of females and among older males, with wages increasing by about K Sh 5,000 for males and by K Sh 7,500 for females. With a total unit cost of K Sh 97,000 per beneficiary, an estimated K Sh 6,768 monthly wage for males and K Sh 9,623 monthly wage for females, the program’s benefits exceeded the costs for males and females. The program also encouraged youths to participate in either (certified) skills training or an internship program, and helped to increase the probability of participants’ opening a bank account and accumulating savings (for females).
  • Publication
    Rapid Youth Assessment in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-09-04) Blank, Lorraine
    The objective of this rapid assessment is to inform the design of an Urban Youth Empowerment Project by providing information on youth and youth serving initiatives. Terms of reference crime and violence in Port Moresby and the National Capital District (NCD) are widespread and costly. In 2004, 68 percent of households reported that they had been victims of crime at least once in the past year and 51 percent had been victims of multiple crimes. Violence against women is pervasive, with domestic violence and rape, including gang rape, routine. By 2005, there had been small decreases in reported victimization; however, 61 percent of households still reported being victims of at least one crime and 46 percent reported being victims of multiple crimes. At the same time, costs associated with security and theft amounted to an estimated 15 percent of business turnover and law and order problems serve as a deterrent to investment. Young people account for the greatest share of crime and violence, so tackling the problem means addressing the underlying causes of youth crime and violence. This report provides a rapid assessment of youth and youth serving institutions in Port Moresby. The report relies on extensive consultations held in Port Moresby from July 23, 2008. Meetings were held with over 100 young people, their parents, community leaders, government officials, researchers, youth workers, leaders of youth groups and youth serving agencies, and representatives of the international non-governmental and donor agencies.
  • Publication
    Adults’ Cognitive and Socioemotional Skills and their Labor Market Outcomes in Colombia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-09) Sarzosa, Miguel; Acosta, Pablo; Muller, Noel
    Previous research has shown that people with higher cognitive skills (mental abilities) and socioemotional skills (behaviors and personality) get better labor market outcomes. It is unclear, however, if this conclusion applies to low- and middle-income countries, given that existing literature builds on studies that are dominantly about highincome countries. In this paper, we explore how cognitive and socioemotional skills of adults, ages 15–64, relate to their labor market outcomes in the context of Colombia. Controlling for a range of confounding factors in a crosssectional survey, we do find that adults with higher skills also have better outcomes, while cognitive and socioemotional skills correlate with different ones and seemingly through different channels. Adults with higher cognitive skills have better jobs (with higher earnings, more formal, and highskilled) and are more likely to complete tertiary education. Socioemotional skills correlate more modestly with having a better job but more strongly with labor market participation and tertiary-education completion. Results suggest that adults with both cognitive and socioemotional skills tend to do better in the labor market and that policies boosting the development of both types may be beneficial in Colombia.
  • Publication
    The Impact of an Adolescent Girls Employment Program : The EPAG Project in Liberia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-04) Adoho, Franck; Chakravarty, Shubha; Korkoyah, Dala T., Jr.; Lundberg, Mattias; Tasneem, Afia
    This paper presents findings from the impact evaluation of the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (EPAG) project in Liberia. The EPAG project was launched by the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development in 2009 with the goal of increasing the employment and income of 2,500 young Liberian women by providing livelihood and life skills training and facilitating their transition to productive work. The analysis in this paper is based on data collected during two rounds of quantitative surveys in 2010 and 2011, the second of which was conducted six months after the classroom-based phase of the training program ended. Strong impacts are found on the employment and earnings outcomes of program participants, relative to a control group of non-participants. The EPAG program increased employment by 47 percent and earnings by 80 percent. In addition, the impact evaluation documents positive effects on a variety of empowerment measures, including access to money, self-confidence, and anxiety about circumstances and the future. The evaluation finds no net impact on fertility or sexual behavior. At the household level, there is evidence of improved food security and shifting attitudes toward gender norms. These results reinforce the highly positive feedback received from focus group discussions with program participants. Finally, preliminary cost-benefit analysis indicates that the budgetary cost of the EPAG business development training for young women is equivalent to the value of three years of the increase in income among program beneficiaries. These preliminary results provide strong evidence for further investment and research into young women's livelihood programs in Liberia.
  • Publication
    State Systems for Skill Development in India
    (Washington, DC, 2015-12) World Bank
    At a time when the World’s leading economies are rapidly greying, India is set to have the largestand youngest workforce the world has ever seen. Indeed, by 2020, when the global shortage ofmanpower soars to 57 million, India is expected to be the world’s leading provider of human resources, with a surplus of 46 million working-age people. However, this window of opportunity will not just be rare, it will also be short-lived, since it is predicted to only last until 2040.It is in this context that Prime Minister Modi has made it a national priority to make India the skill capital of the world.The report endeavors to identify the institutional and systemic structures that will be needed to improve the effectiveness of skills training across India’s states. It also seeks to pinpoint innovative best practices and outline ways to scale them up throughout the country.The report covers skill development institutional structures at the state level (in most cases, the State Skill Development Missions), economic zones and future high-growth industries in those zones,corporate engagement in skill development, and finally, innovation in skilling models by states and the corporate sector. In addition, the report also describes some best practices observed globally, especially from Australia, Germany, Japan and South Korea. These models cover three areas of resource optimization pertaining to increasing apprenticeships and industry participation, leveraging technology, and providing training at the grassroots. The key lesson learned is that skilling is a highly localized issue, and models need to be adapted to target groups rather than be force-fitted using a one-size-fits-all kind of approach. Finally, it must be pointed out that high-level recommendations have been provided to enhance the skill development landscape, particularly at the state level, from an institutional and systemic point of view.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Economic Recovery
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-06) Malpass, David; Georgieva, Kristalina; Yellen, Janet
    World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the world facing major challenges, including COVID, climate change, rising poverty and inequality and growing fragility and violence in many countries. He highlighted vaccines, working closely with Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF, the World Bank has conducted over one hundred capacity assessments, many even more before vaccines were available. The World Bank Group worked to achieve a debt service suspension initiative and increased transparency in debt contracts at developing countries. The World Bank Group is finalizing a new climate change action plan, which includes a big step up in financing, building on their record climate financing over the past two years. He noted big challenges to bring all together to achieve GRID: green, resilient, and inclusive development. Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, mentioned focusing on vulnerable people during the pandemic. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, focused on giving everyone a fair shot during a sustainable recovery. All three commented on the importance of tackling climate change.
  • Publication
    Remarks at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-12) Malpass, David
    World Bank Group President David Malpass discussed biodiversity and climate change being closely interlinked, with terrestrial and marine ecosystems serving as critically important carbon sinks. At the same time climate change acts as a direct driver of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. The World Bank has financed biodiversity conservation around the world, including over 116 million hectares of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, 10 million hectares of Terrestrial Protected Areas, and over 300 protected habitats, biological buffer zones and reserves. The COVID pandemic, biodiversity loss, climate change are all reminders of how connected we are. The recovery from this pandemic is an opportunity to put in place more effective policies, institutions, and resources to address biodiversity loss.
  • Publication
    Media and Messages for Nutrition and Health
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06) Calleja, Ramon V., Jr.; Mbuya, Nkosinathi V.N.; Morimoto, Tomo; Thitsy, Sophavanh
    The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has experienced rapid and significant economic growth over the past decade. However, poor nutritional outcomes remain a concern. Rates of childhood undernutrition are particularly high in remote, rural, and upland areas. Media have the potential to play an important role in shaping health and nutrition–related behaviors and practices as well as in promoting sociocultural and economic development that might contribute to improved nutritional outcomes. This report presents the results of a media audit (MA) that was conducted to inform the development and production of mass media advocacy and communication strategies and materials with a focus on maternal and child health and nutrition that would reach the most people from the poorest communities in northern Lao PDR. Making more people aware of useful information, essential services and products and influencing them to use these effectively is the ultimate goal of mass media campaigns, and the MA measures the potential effectiveness of media efforts to reach this goal. The effectiveness of communication channels to deliver health and nutrition messages to target beneficiaries to ensure maximum reach and uptake can be viewed in terms of preferences, satisfaction, and trust. Overall, the four most accessed media channels for receiving information among communities in the study areas were village announcements, mobile phones, television, and out-of-home (OOH) media. Of the accessed media channels, the top three most preferred channels were village announcements (40 percent), television (26 percent), and mobile phones (19 percent). In terms of trust, village announcements were the most trusted source of information (64 percent), followed by mobile phones (14 percent) and television (11 percent). Hence of all the media channels, village announcements are the most preferred, have the most satisfied users, and are the most trusted source of information in study communities from four provinces in Lao PDR with some of the highest burden of childhood undernutrition.
  • Publication
    World Bank Annual Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25) World Bank
    This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
  • Publication
    South Asia Development Update, April 2024: Jobs for Resilience
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-04-02) World Bank
    South Asia is expected to continue to be the fastest-growing emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) region over the next two years. This is largely thanks to robust growth in India, but growth is also expected to pick up in most other South Asian economies. However, growth in the near-term is more reliant on the public sector than elsewhere, whereas private investment, in particular, continues to be weak. Efforts to rein in elevated debt, borrowing costs, and fiscal deficits may eventually weigh on growth and limit governments' ability to respond to increasingly frequent climate shocks. Yet, the provision of public goods is among the most effective strategies for climate adaptation. This is especially the case for households and farms, which tend to rely on shifting their efforts to non-agricultural jobs. These strategies are less effective forms of climate adaptation, in part because opportunities to move out of agriculture are limited by the region’s below-average employment ratios in the non-agricultural sector and for women. Because employment growth is falling short of working-age population growth, the region fails to fully capitalize on its demographic dividend. Vibrant, competitive firms are key to unlocking the demographic dividend, robust private investment, and workers’ ability to move out of agriculture. A range of policies could spur firm growth, including improved business climates and institutions, the removal of financial sector restrictions, and greater openness to trade and capital flows.