Girl-Centered Program Design: A Toolkit to Develop, Strengthen, and Expand Adolescent Girls Programs

Adolescent girls face poorer health outcomes than boys, are more likely to become infected with HIV, are more socially isolated, are less likely to make the transition to secondary school or to complete it, and have fewer income-generating opportunities. Logic might have it, then, that a lot of effort in these arenas is being made to reach these adolescent girls, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Typically, what is available are general youth programs that are meant to include adolescent girls, but in reality do not. Experience has shown that to reach adolescent girls, especially vulnerable adolescent girls, programs must be designed with them as the target audience. This toolkit aims to help program managers do just that.