24%
drop in fertility rates
Solutions
Empowerment and Livelihood of Adolescents (ELA)
A youth empowerment programmes offering safe spaces and mentor-led, community-supported programming, with a focus on girls and women. Through a combination of social empowerment, education, and economic empowerment, young people gain the knowledge and tools to overcome barriers and reach their full potential.
This program is implemented by BRAC International, Global
Published: 22 janvier 2025
1
Summary
Intervention details (1)
Intervention type |
Adolescent development clubs |
|
Effectiveness |
Effective |
|
Inspire pillar: |
Safe environments |
|
Evidence type: |
Randomized control trial |
2
Background of the program
Context
Girls in low- and middle-income countries face disproportionate risks during adolescence that can hinder their transitions into adulthood. These include high barriers to education and economic opportunity and high levels of teenage pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based violence. This can make girls more dependent on older men, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and violence.
Harder to accumulate education and livelihood skills, this limits their ability to gain employment later in life, creating a cycle of economic and social disempowerment in adolescence that carries into adulthood.
The Empowerment and Livelihood of Adolescents (ELA) program originally began as the Adolescent Development Program (ADP) in Bangladesh in 1998, drawing on lessons learnt where 9,000 clubs have been reaching over one million girls since 1993. As of 2008 it has since expanded outside of Bangladesh to Nepal and five African countries as the ELA program, with other interventions added according to the country context: Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Liberia.
Origins
The Empowerment and Livelihood of Adolescents (ELA) program originally began as the Adolescent Development Program (ADP) in Bangladesh in 1998, drawing on lessons learnt where 9,000 clubs have been reaching over one million girls since 1993. As of 2008 it has since expanded outside of Bangladesh to Nepal and five African countries as the ELA program, with other interventions added according to the country context: Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Liberia.
3
Background of the program
What it is and how it works
ELA starts with “safe spaces” close to the home, where teens can discuss problems with their peers in small groups and build their social networks, away from the pressures of family and male-centered communities. The program seeks to offer hundreds of thousands of adolescent girls the opportunity for a better life by empowering girls socially and economically, with life-skills, livelihood training, vocational training and startup kits to start small-scale businesses.
ELA in Africa works independently from the public education system, but works closely with the national ministries of youth and gender. It targets girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, aged between 10-22, particularly those at risk of dropping out of school, with the majority being out of school. For younger girls, the emphasis is on social skills development and creating a savings mentality, but by their mid-teens – the exact age differs from context to context – there is a demand among adolescent girls for livelihood training, financial literacy and sometimes microloans.
Their adolescent clubs also serve as a social space for girls and provide relevant learning materials and support recreational activities such as reading, dancing, and indoor and outdoor games.
These clubs deliver a dual-focus curriculum:
- Life skills training: Topics include reproductive health, gender equality, and rights awareness, aiming to boost confidence and reduce the risk of sexual exploitation.
- Livelihood skills training: Vocational training, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship education equip participants with tools to achieve economic independence.
Community engagement ensures local buy-in, and trained mentors lead the clubs, fostering a supportive environment.
Their adolescent clubs also serve as a social space for girls and provide relevant learning materials and support recreational activities such as reading, dancing, and indoor and outdoor games.
These clubs deliver a dual-focus curriculum:
- Life skills training: Topics include reproductive health, gender equality, and rights awareness, aiming to boost confidence and reduce the risk of sexual exploitation.
- Livelihood skills training: Vocational training, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship education equip participants with tools to achieve economic independence.
Community engagement ensures local buy-in, and trained mentors lead the clubs, fostering a supportive environment.
Program outcomes
There was significant improvement in participants' self-confidence and agency. See Uganda and Sierra Leone for country-specific outcomes.
4
Program overview
“ Programs like ELA are shaped not by presuming that development workers and program designers know best, but by giving voice to young people’s concerns and aspirations—and then giving them the means to shape their own futures. ”
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC Founder and Chairperson
Participants learn critical life skills through the program including:
Intrapersonal competencies: Self-confidence, entrepreneurial mindset, self-worth, personal autonomy to take care of themselves
Interpersonal competencies: Giving girls the confidence they need to assert themselves and resolve conflicts. Leadership, negotiation, communication, empathy, effective communication
Cognitive competencies: How to learn, earn and save – along with livelihood skills training, business planning, training in entrepreneurship, budget management, savings. Creativity, decision-making, numeracy skills, awareness of rights.
Attitudes and values: Learning the importance of staying in school and avoiding early marriage and pregnancy. Entrepreneurial mindset. Taking control of their lives.
Pedagogy/ Active engagement of students: Discussion, role-playing, brainstorming, socializing with other members.
5
ELA in Uganda
The largest youth empowerment platform in Uganda
Outcomes in Sierra Leone
30%
drop in having sex unwillingly
48%
increased engagement in income generating activities
45%
higher wage employment
More than 6 times increase
in self-employment earnings
6
ELA in Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, women frequently face gender-based violence and exploitation, experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by a husband or partner. Sierra Leone is also one of the least equal countries in the UNDP Gender Equality index and has the highest maternal mortality rate of any country. Even among those not married, early pregnancy is a significant risk factor.
West Africa’s 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic further exacerbated girls’ risk of pregnancy, sexual abuse, and school dropout. About half of all cases during the epidemic came from Sierra Leone, and the country closed all primary and secondary schools, both reducing girls’ education and increasing their exposure to older men.
Countering the school-to-work transition for young women in high Ebola-disrupted villages, these adolescent clubs operated in 10 communities, mentoring 300 girls between the ages 10-22. This intervention bundled health education, vocational skills training, and micro-credit. While girls experienced higher teen pregnancy and lower school attendance post-Ebola, ELA clubs mitigated many of these negative effects of epidemic-spurred school closures. Girls above 17 benefited from vocational training and at 18 they were offered microfinance loans to capitalize on acquired skills.
In partnership with IPA, the World Bank and UNICEF, BRAC implemented the ELA programme in Sierra Leone from 2014 to 2016. It served 4,800 in- and out-ofschool girls 12 to 25 through 160 ELA clubs in Port Loko, Kambia, Moyamba, and Pujehun.
Impact of ELA in high Ebola-disrupted villages, Sierra Leone
82% drop
of out-of-wedlock pregnancy
73%
of the reduction in literacy skills were offset by spending 10 hours more per week learning and nearly 5 hours less on chores.
50% reduction
in failure rate to re-enrol in school, post Ebola.
29% increase
in contraceptive use
7
Contact
Details of program implementer goes here
8
Sources
- Women’s Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa (Bandiera et al., 2020, AEJ, Vol. 12 (1), pp. 210-259)
9
Tags
Last updated: 22 janvier 2025