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Advocating for Adolescent Girls in Africa & Latin America Emily Teitsworth, M.A. Overview of Session Plan. Introduction to AGALI Case studies: advocacy for girls Group work: applying effective advocacy strategies to economic empowerment work Presentation of group work Wrap-up and Q&A.
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Advocating for Adolescent Girls in Africa & Latin America Emily Teitsworth, M.A.
Overview of Session Plan • Introduction to AGALI • Case studies: advocacy for girls • Group work: applying effective advocacy strategies to economic empowerment work • Presentation of group work • Wrap-up and Q&A
Adolescent Girls: A Marginalized Demographic 25% live in extreme poverty >50% are out-of-school youth Maternal mortality is top killer (15-19 years) 75% of HIV+ African youth are female <2¢ of every $1 invested in adolescent girls Sources: UNFPA, UNICEF, UNESCO, Nike Foundation
Adolescent Girls: Powerful Opportunities • Girls' education leads to later marriage and fewer children • Increased contraceptive use could reduce adolescent maternal mortality by 35% • Ex: If all teen pregnancies in Malawi were delayed to at least age 20, GDP would increase by 27% annually. Sources: Advocates for Youth, Center for Global Development, World Bank
AGALI Public Health Institute (PHI) Funders: UN Foundation & WestWind Foundation Focus countries Africa: Liberia, Malawi, Ethiopia Latin America: Guatemala, Honduras
AGALI Program Goals Strengthen civil society capacity to advocate for policies, programs, and funding benefiting adolescent girls. Improve girls’ education, livelihoods, health, and human rights while empowering young women to advocate for themselves. Fellows Civil society leaders, policymakers, advocates, social change agents Strategies 1. Capacity building workshops 2. Seed grants 3. Technical assistance 4. Institutional Strengthening 5. Dissemination & outreach 6. Building the knowledge base
Strengthen civil society capacity to advocate on behalf of adolescent girls Share knowledge & best practices Develop advocacy strategies to advance girls’ education, SRH, human rights, socio-economic wellbeing Capacity Building Workshops
Seed Grant Funding PHI awards grants to support AGALI graduates’ strongest advocacy projects
Technical Assistance PHI provides TA to AGALI participants: • Proposal development • Advocacy strategy implementation • Networking and outreach • New media and video advocacy • Fundraising and leveraging resources
Institutional Strengthening PHI conducts ongoing Institutional Strengthening workshops for AGALI Fellows and their organizations on a wide range of topics: • Girl-centered programming • Media advocacy • Political mapping • Girls’ economic • empowerment • Budgetary advocacy • Monitoring & • evaluation
Dissemination & Outreach Participants build local capacity and commitment by conducting trainings for local organizations and for girls’ groups
Building the Knowledge Base • Policy Briefs • Video and media advocacy • Advocacy project case studies
Program Achievements • 89 Latin American and African leaders advocating for laws, policies, and programs • Built a global civil society network sharing best practices in advocacy for girls • Reached > 40,000 girls with direct service, advocacy training, & empowerment programs • Major legal and policy wins at national & local levels • Supported creation of new national advocacy networks in Malawi and Honduras
Grantees’ Advocacy Results • Passage of national Children’s Law in Liberia, guaranteeing girls’ rights • Passage of two policies in Guatemala to promote teen pregnancy prevention and services for girls • Expansion of girl-centered programs & budgets at the local level • Implementation of national Sexual Violence Protocol, with integrated care for adolescent girl survivors • Collaboration with village chiefs to institute penalties for practitioners of child marriage
Advocacy Network Creation Malawi Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy &Leadership Network (AGANET) AGALI network to coordinate collaborative advocacy activities for adolescent girls Honduras Advocacy Coalition for Youth Sexual & Reproductive Rights AGALI / UN network to advocate for effective implementation of the Ministerial Declaration ‘Preventing Through Education’
Advocacy & Economic Empowerment • What is the connection between AGALI and economic empowerment? • Why is systems change thinking important to girls’ economic empowerment?
AGALI Advocacy Case Studies • THINK and HOPE in Liberia: Advocacy for the passage of the Children’s Act • Asociación IDEI in Guatemala: Empowering girls to advocate for their own rights • AGANET in Malawi: The power of advocacy networks and coalitions
Questions for Discussion 1) What are the principal advocacy strategies used by the organization(s) profiled in the case study? 2) What are some potential limitations of the organization’s approach? 3) What are some of the most important lessons to take away from this particular case study? 4) Which elements of the organization’s advocacy strategy could be applied by institutions working in the field of girls’ economic empowerment?
Case Study Lessons Learned • Empower adolescent girls to advocate for their own needs. • Direct service organizations can become effective advocates for girls’ rights, with limited investments. • Develop allies in the media to broaden your impact. • Advocacy networks increase your reach and bring more attention to your cause. • Engage in constructive direct dialogue with decision-makers. • Advocacy doesn’t end with passing a law or policy; advocacy for implementation of existing policy is equally as important.
