The following section, Tools, offers you access to several of the Population Council’s open-source toolkits and guides for creating effective girls’ programs on the ground. Some have been created for specific contexts but all contain exercises and tools that are easy to adapt to your communities. Several of the below resources are available in multiple languages. The toolkits range in terms of what step(s) of Intentional Design they support – from using data critically to identify where you will work, to creating mentorship structures to support the girls, to how to create measurable benchmarks of success in your program. We encourage your thoughtful review and use of the below resources.
Intentional Design: Reaching the Most Excluded Girls in the Poorest Communities—A Guide for Practitioners and Advocates
The Community of Practice’s Intentional Design guide is a sourcebook that offers step-wise technical guidance for utilizing the Intentional Design approach, an evidence-based model for the design of girl-centered programs that generates a cycle of information collection and analysis.
The Girl Innovation Research and Learning (GIRL) Center has created the Adolescent Data Hub, a unique global portal to share and access data on adolescents living in low and middle-income countries. It is home to the world’s largest collection of data on adolescents and serves as a resource to facilitate data sharing, research transparency, and a more collaborative research environment to drive continued progress for adolescents, and is a key resource for stakeholders seeking data on adolescents.
The Population Council’s Adolescent Experience In-Depth Guides draw principally on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, to provide decision-makers at all levels—from governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and advocacy groups—evidence on the situation of adolescent girls and boys and young women, from 10 to 24 years old. There are guides for 51 countries across five global regions. To improve its accessibility, the data are presented in graphs, tables, and maps.
A set of practical, user-friendly tools and worksheets, the Building Girls Protective Assets Collection helps those who are designing and implementing girls’ programs to integrate a protective asset-building approach to improve their coverage. The exercises and tools featured focus on programs that have been effective in reducing girls’ risks and broadening their opportunities. This collection will help program staff design, reassess, conduct, monitor and evaluate their program activities, at any stage of planning or implementation.
The Community of Practice commissioned the Adolescent Girl and Creativity Network to determine the essential assets pertinent to the most-at-risk girls and how to build them through creative techniques. They developed the Creative Assets and Program Content Guide, which is comprised of 13 creative assets and 50 activities (program content) to build social and emotional learning, mitigate and manage trauma, and promote healing.
The Designing for Scale Video Toolkit provides videos and supporting presentations, worksheets, and additional resources that outline step-by-step approaches for designing, implementing, and evaluating girls’ programs. The videos capture workshops conducted by the Population Council to help NGOs and governments structure programs to more effectively reach and benefit off-track girls. The toolkit offers lectures on a range of subjects including how to rationalize investment in girls to how to build social capital.
The Evidence for Gender and Education Resource (EGER) is an easy-to-use, interactive database to help the gender and education community make informed decisions about their programming and investments. EGER identifies and maps the organizations, projects, and programs in the gender and education space, and shares information on the state of evidence for different approaches to accelerate progress. Discover partnership opportunities, identify program gaps, and integrate evidence into global education activities.
This toolkit describes a process of program development that is grounded firmly in an evidence base. Chapters in the From Research to Design to Implementation Toolkit begin at a starting point of research to identify and describe girls, followed by program development emanating from data, to implementation guided by ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Though specifically tailored for developing programs for rural adolescent Ethiopian, the toolkit is highly adaptable to other contexts.
Girls on the Map: Mapping for Program Planning and Social Change
This guide is a complement to the Intentional Design Guide, taking a deeper look at how various levels of mapping can serve practitioners when planning their programs for adolescent girls and young women – from how to identify where to work, with whom to work, through which platforms to provide services, and more.
This set of practical, user-friendly tools and guidelines is intended to help strengthen programs for girls. It can be used by anyone who is implementing a program, writing a proposal to work with girls, or seeking innovative ideas on how to strengthen program activities. The Girl-Centered Program Design Toolkit has three main sections: the first focuses on structure, the second on content, and the third on monitoring and evaluation. Each chapter contains an introduction to the topic and examples from existing programs.
The Girl Roster is a tool designed to help practitioners understand their “walkable” home communities and elicit foundational information to intentionally link priority segments of girls—especially the most off-track girls—to the vital resources to which they are entitled but often have limited or no access. Program staff can see a fuller view of girls’ lived realities and sort them into meaningful segments by age; school-going, marital, and childbearing status; and living arrangements (living with two, one or neither parent/guardian).
Recruitment, Training, and Support of Mentors for Adolescent Girl Programming
This toolkit pulls together lessons, tips, and insights that can be adapted and used to find, train, monitor, support, and evaluate mentors. The information in the Making the Most of Mentors Toolkit is based on materials from programs for adolescent girls implemented by the Population Council. The resources are applicable to program planners, mentor supervisors, and mentors, and features real-life case studies as examples of these activities and tools’ practical application. All resources may be adapted to local contexts.
Understanding the Role of Communities in Programming for Adolescent Girls
This guide focuses on five common questions asked by practitioners about where they work. Using real-world examples, the More than A Backdrop Action Guide demonstrates how access to information about the community may ease implementation and enhance the chances of success by helping program staff adapt and make informed decisions early in program design. This can influence program decisions such as selecting who is eligible, creating program content, and assessing the community’s needs.
Tools
The following section, Tools, offers you access to several of the Population Council’s open-source toolkits and guides for creating effective girls’ programs on the ground. Some have been created for specific contexts but all contain exercises and tools that are easy to adapt to your communities. Several of the below resources are available in multiple languages. The toolkits range in terms of what step(s) of Intentional Design they support – from using data critically to identify where you will work, to creating mentorship structures to support the girls, to how to create measurable benchmarks of success in your program. We encourage your thoughtful review and use of the below resources.
Intentional Design: Reaching the Most Excluded Girls in the Poorest Communities—A Guide for Practitioners and Advocates
The Community of Practice’s Intentional Design guide is a sourcebook that offers step-wise technical guidance for utilizing the Intentional Design approach, an evidence-based model for the design of girl-centered programs that generates a cycle of information collection and analysis.
The Adolescent Data Hub
The Girl Innovation Research and Learning (GIRL) Center has created the Adolescent Data Hub, a unique global portal to share and access data on adolescents living in low and middle-income countries. It is home to the world’s largest collection of data on adolescents and serves as a resource to facilitate data sharing, research transparency, and a more collaborative research environment to drive continued progress for adolescents, and is a key resource for stakeholders seeking data on adolescents.
The Adolescent Experience In-Depth Guides
The Population Council’s Adolescent Experience In-Depth Guides draw principally on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, to provide decision-makers at all levels—from governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and advocacy groups—evidence on the situation of adolescent girls and boys and young women, from 10 to 24 years old. There are guides for 51 countries across five global regions. To improve its accessibility, the data are presented in graphs, tables, and maps.
The Building Assets Toolkit
The content of girls’ programs often is overly generalized and not adapted to specific populations. The Community of Practice and partners have pioneered the Building Assets Toolkit© to assist in the development of relevant, tailored, and positive program content. This toolkit guides practitioners through an asset-building approach to support their crafting of stepwise, achievable benchmarks for girls by age, social category, and context. It models the critical thinking needed for effective program design.
Building Girls' Protective Assets Collection
A set of practical, user-friendly tools and worksheets, the Building Girls Protective Assets Collection helps those who are designing and implementing girls’ programs to integrate a protective asset-building approach to improve their coverage. The exercises and tools featured focus on programs that have been effective in reducing girls’ risks and broadening their opportunities. This collection will help program staff design, reassess, conduct, monitor and evaluate their program activities, at any stage of planning or implementation.
Creative Assets and Program Content Guide
The Community of Practice commissioned the Adolescent Girl and Creativity Network to determine the essential assets pertinent to the most-at-risk girls and how to build them through creative techniques. They developed the Creative Assets and Program Content Guide, which is comprised of 13 creative assets and 50 activities (program content) to build social and emotional learning, mitigate and manage trauma, and promote healing.
Designing for Scale Video Toolkit
The Designing for Scale Video Toolkit provides videos and supporting presentations, worksheets, and additional resources that outline step-by-step approaches for designing, implementing, and evaluating girls’ programs. The videos capture workshops conducted by the Population Council to help NGOs and governments structure programs to more effectively reach and benefit off-track girls. The toolkit offers lectures on a range of subjects including how to rationalize investment in girls to how to build social capital.
Evidence for Gender and Education Resource (EGER)
The Evidence for Gender and Education Resource (EGER) is an easy-to-use, interactive database to help the gender and education community make informed decisions about their programming and investments. EGER identifies and maps the organizations, projects, and programs in the gender and education space, and shares information on the state of evidence for different approaches to accelerate progress. Discover partnership opportunities, identify program gaps, and integrate evidence into global education activities.
From Research to Design to Implementation Toolkit
This toolkit describes a process of program development that is grounded firmly in an evidence base. Chapters in the From Research to Design to Implementation Toolkit begin at a starting point of research to identify and describe girls, followed by program development emanating from data, to implementation guided by ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Though specifically tailored for developing programs for rural adolescent Ethiopian, the toolkit is highly adaptable to other contexts.
Girls on the Map: Mapping for Program Planning and Social Change
This guide is a complement to the Intentional Design Guide, taking a deeper look at how various levels of mapping can serve practitioners when planning their programs for adolescent girls and young women – from how to identify where to work, with whom to work, through which platforms to provide services, and more.
Girl-Centered Program Design Toolkit
This set of practical, user-friendly tools and guidelines is intended to help strengthen programs for girls. It can be used by anyone who is implementing a program, writing a proposal to work with girls, or seeking innovative ideas on how to strengthen program activities. The Girl-Centered Program Design Toolkit has three main sections: the first focuses on structure, the second on content, and the third on monitoring and evaluation. Each chapter contains an introduction to the topic and examples from existing programs.
The Girl Roster
The Girl Roster is a tool designed to help practitioners understand their “walkable” home communities and elicit foundational information to intentionally link priority segments of girls—especially the most off-track girls—to the vital resources to which they are entitled but often have limited or no access. Program staff can see a fuller view of girls’ lived realities and sort them into meaningful segments by age; school-going, marital, and childbearing status; and living arrangements (living with two, one or neither parent/guardian).
Making the Most of Mentors Toolkits
Recruitment, Training, and Support of Mentors for Adolescent Girl Programming
This toolkit pulls together lessons, tips, and insights that can be adapted and used to find, train, monitor, support, and evaluate mentors. The information in the Making the Most of Mentors Toolkit is based on materials from programs for adolescent girls implemented by the Population Council. The resources are applicable to program planners, mentor supervisors, and mentors, and features real-life case studies as examples of these activities and tools’ practical application. All resources may be adapted to local contexts.
More Than a Backdrop Guide
Understanding the Role of Communities in Programming for Adolescent Girls
This guide focuses on five common questions asked by practitioners about where they work. Using real-world examples, the More than A Backdrop Action Guide demonstrates how access to information about the community may ease implementation and enhance the chances of success by helping program staff adapt and make informed decisions early in program design. This can influence program decisions such as selecting who is eligible, creating program content, and assessing the community’s needs.