Girls’ Leadership Programs

1. ITSPLEY/PTLA Evaluation Results Girls’ Leadership Programs

2. Innovation through Sport: Promoting Leaders, Empowering Youth ( ITSPLEY) • January 2009-March 2012 • 4 countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania Objective 1 : To reach 100,000 adolescent (10-18+yrs) with leadership skills and opportunities to practice leadership through sport-based trainings Objective 2: To deliver innovative institutional capacity building to local organizations through sports and the Marketplace Model.

3. Power to Lead Alliance (PTLA) • September 2008-September 2011 • 6 countries: Egypt, Honduras, India, Malawi, Tanzania, Yemen • For girls ages 10 to 14 • GOAL: To promote girl leaders in vulnerable communities • Objective 1: Cultivate opportunities for 39,000 girls to practice their leadership skills • Objective 2: Create partnerships to promote girls’ leadership • Objective 3: Enhance knowledge to implement and promote girls’ leadership programs

4. Agency CARE’s Gender Empowerment Framework A person’s own aspirations and capabilities Empowerment Relations Structures The relationships through which s/he negotiates a path The environment that enables and conditions choices

5. CARE’s Theory of ChangeGirls’ Leadership Model Development of Leadership Competencies for Girls Advocacy and Support Girls know and exercise their rights Supportive Leadership Opportunities Equitable Quality Education

6. Who is a Girl Leader? A girl who is an active learner who believes that she can make a difference in her world and acts alone and with others to bring about positive change.

7. Leadership Competencies • Voice/Assertion • Decision making/Action • Self-confidence • Organization • Vision/Ability to Motivate Others

8. Evaluation Methodology • Document review • Surveys Revised Girls’ Leadership Index (GLI) to girls (Kenya included boys) Revised Gender Equity Index (GEI) to girls and boys • Focus groups – Girls; Boys (active and control) • Semi-structured interviews Support persons (e.g., mentors) Participating girls Partner staff and/or volunteers Community leader • Activity observation • “Success story” interviews Participating girls Community leaders

9. Girls’ Leadership Index and Gender Equitable Index • About the GLI • Gathers information about girls’ (10-14 years old) perceptions of themselves as leaders • Seeks to assess varying degrees of achievement in five key components of leadership • Piloted by PTLA and ITSPLEY in 2009 • Factor analysis done in 2011 by UoM found responses did not discern among leadership dimensions but reveal one main underlying construct of leadership • About the GEI • Tool for measuring boys’ (10-14 years old) perceptions of gender in their homes, schools, communities and broader society • Aims to measure boys’ gender-equitable perceptions and can be used as both a needs assessment and an evaluation tool • Piloted by PTLA and ITSPLEY in 2009 • Factor analysis done in 2011 by UoM found that three main dimensions are measured by the items – equality, inequality, and domestic roles

10. Results: Skills and competency target (GLI)70%

11. AgencyLeadership (GLI) mean scores - Girls *=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (based on Cohen’s d)

12. Social relationsPositive change: Gendered social beliefs - Girls (GEI) *=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (Cohen’s d)

13. Social relationsPositive change: Gendered social beliefs - Boys (GEI) *=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (based on Cohen’s d)

14. Changes in attitudes towards girls • Data from focus groups reveal the discrepancies that exist between attitudes or beliefs and behavior. This would be expected, as behavior change takes more time and practice. • Although boys express favorable attitudes related to girls’ rights, their actions do not always align with their words • Women highly supportive: While women formerly believed that girls were best suited for housework and other chores, there is evidence that this attitude is changing.

15. Changes in attitudes towards girls contd. • Growing recognition that the empowerment of girls is empowering for girls’ mothers as well • Perceptions of men’s attitudes toward girls were more variable and less consistent than perceptions of women’s attitudes but still positive • Evidence that there is more open communication between fathers and daughters • Increased level of trust on girls capabilities leading to greater access • shift in attitude is an important complement to other policy or structural changes in the communities

16. Focus Groups • Active girls developed a stronger sense of leadership than non-active participants • Both male and female youth perceived they were developing as leaders • Boys, women (mothers), and (to a lesser extent) men in all PTLA and ITSPLEY countries revealed shifts in attitudes toward girls • Women encouraged girls by giving them more freedom to participate

17. Bangladesh Provided a valuable platform for girls to practice leadership skills through sports, artistic and cultural activities. Strong civic engagement activities, with boys and girls involved in activism related to such topics as sanitation, violence against women, early marriage, and eve-teasing (i.e., sexual harassment). Girls began speaking up for themselves: in their families to teachers stopping boys from teasing girls protesting against early marriage Boys have become advocates for girls’ rights, particularly addressing harassment and barriers to girls’ mobility.

18. Egypt Girls gained skills in effective facilitation, and planning, monitoring and documenting community initiatives. Women and mothers are starting to spare girls from housework so they can study. Previously only boys were seen on playgrounds. Now in some communities, girls can be seen playing. Girls and boys worked together to carry out community initiatives.

19. Honduras Youth previously involved in destructive graffiti became engaged in a creative painting group. Girls and boys in entrepreneurial activity groups are making and selling paintings, embroidery, and bakery products to support other children to be able to learn those same skills. Youth are actively involved in promoting school improvement initiatives and supporting at-risk children.

20. India • Girls have become more vocal: • encouraging their peers to attend school • raising their voices against discriminatory practices either in their families or in the society at large, such as early marriage.

21. Kenya Girls are stating their opinions and ideas. The community has become more accepting of girls, seeing them as responsible, capable individuals. Boys have realized that girls are sources for information and are equal to or can even surpass them in many activities.

22. Malawi Girls are using theatrical arts to raise awareness of girls’ rights and concerns, engaging community leaders and parents, touring other communities and schools. Increased academic performance through engagement in debate, science and reading clubs.

23. Tanzania • Girls have learned to use public space to voice their concerns. • Through youth-led mock parliaments, girls held duty-bearers accountable for addressing their needs. • Community leaders have started taking action on some of the issues raised. • Girls are using leadership skills at home to influence decisions - encouraging younger siblings to attend school, talking to parents about joining the village savings and loan program in order to get money for school fees.

24. Yemen • Changed community norms make it now normal for girls to go to school. • Brothers support sisters’ learning • Priority is given to girls’ school homework over household chores. • Girls have fewer restrictions on movement than before. • Girls are allowed to participate in sports, school theatres, school radio, etc. and to take on new roles in the community, such as library manager.

25. Overall Project Challenges • Remarkable change in 3 years, but more time is needed to ensure sustainable change • Community attitudes change slowly; enabling environment needs ongoing, increased attention • Building local NGO capacity requires investment of time and resources, especially for new initiatives in gender, leadership, and sports

26. Evaluation Conclusions • Integrated PTLA & ITSPLEY approach is powerful for girls’ and boys’ education and leadership development, and for gender equality • Girls’ empowerment is about individual change and changes in structures and relations • ITSPLEY promotes gender equity: girls were allowed more freedom to be out in public, play sports (i.e., use “male spaces”), and interact in positive ways with boys  • Building capacity at local & community level shows signs of sustainability; investing in adults as mentors, etc. is critical • Piloted instruments (GLI; GEI) show promise and merit further development

27. Recommendations • Include boys as well as girls with a focus on participation and targeting gender equitable attitudes and behaviors (notparity) • Conflict management needs to be part of the capacity building training. • Give more attention to interventions that target adult and early-adolescent mentoring relationships

28. Recommendations, cont. • Extend programming beyond 3 years for sustainability (i.e., at least 5 years) • Develop further: • instruments to measure impact as gender equity (GEI): qualitative and quantitative • approaches to build capacity in local partners and to measure change in organizational capacity