girls’ leadership programs

Girls’ Leadership Programs

ITSPLEY/PTLA Evaluation Results

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.

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

Empowerment

Agency

RelationsStructures

A person’s own

aspirations and capabilities

The relationships

through which s/he negotiates

a path

The environment that enables

and conditions choices

CARE’s Gender Empowerment Framework

CARE’s Theory of ChangeGirls’ Leadership Model

Development of Leadership

Competencies for Girls

Equitable Quality

Education

Supportive Leadership

Opportunities

Advocacy and

Support

Girls know and exercise their rights

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.

Voice/Assertion

Decision making/Action

Self-confidence

Organization

Vision/Ability to Motivate Others

Leadership Competencies

Evaluation Methodology1. Document review2. Surveys

Revised Girls’ Leadership Index (GLI) to girls (Kenya included boys)

Revised Gender Equity Index (GEI) to girls and boys3. Focus groups – Girls; Boys (active and control)4. Semi-structured interviews

Support persons (e.g., mentors)Participating girlsPartner staff and/or volunteers Community leader

5. Activity observation6. “Success story” interviews

Participating girlsCommunity leaders

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

Bang

lade

sh

Egyp

t

Hond

uras

Indi

a

Keny

a

Mal

awi

Tanz

ania

Yem

en

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

VoiceDecision makingOrganization

Results: Skills and competency target (GLI)70%

Bangladesh ** (n=77,

130)

Egypt *** (n= 50, 100)

Honduras *** (n=169,

113)

India *** (n=49, 71)

Kenya (not sig. n= 46 baseline,

52)

Malawi (not sig., n= 170,

137)

Tanzania ** (n=44, 84)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

42.

88 3.07

2.78

2.1

3.03

2.85

2.83.

11 3.33

3.08

3.62

2.93

2.88

2.9

comparison active

Agency Leadership (GLI) mean scores - Girls

*=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (based on Cohen’s d)

Social relationsPositive change: Gendered social beliefs - Girls (GEI)

*=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (Cohen’s d)

Bangladesh ***

Egypt (no) Honduras ***

India *** Kenya ** Malawi ** Tanzania ***

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

ComparisonActive

Social relationsPositive change: Gendered social beliefs - Boys (GEI)

Bangladesh (no)

Egypt **

Honduras ***

India ***

Kenya (no)

Malawi *

Tanzania ***

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

ComparisonActive

*=small effect size; **=medium effect size; ***=large effect size (based on Cohen’s d)

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.

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

•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

Focus Groups

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.

Bangladesh

EgyptGirls 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.

Honduras

Youth previously involved in destructive graffiti became engaged in a creative painting group.

Girls and boys in entrepreneurialactivity 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Recommendations• Include boys as well as girls with a focus on

participation and targeting gender equitable attitudes and behaviors (not parity)

• Conflict management needs to be part of the capacity building training.

• Give more attention to interventions that target adult and early-adolescent mentoring relationships

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