Adolescent Girls Initiative – Kenya: Research to Determine What Works for Very Young Adolescent Girls in an Urban Slum in Nairobi, Kenya

Young adolescent girls residing in urban slums in Kenya are at risk of experiencing negative outcomes in the near future such as school dropout, early sexual initiation, unintended pregnancy, early marriage and sexual and... [ view full abstract ]

Young adolescent girls residing in urban slums in Kenya are at risk of experiencing negative outcomes in the near future such as school dropout, early sexual initiation, unintended pregnancy, early marriage and sexual and gender-based violence. Therefore, it is critical to intervene before the myriad of challenges girls face result in outcomes that are irreversible or are costly to compensate for or reverse. Furthermore, in order to achieve well-being for girls in early and late adolescence, no single-sector intervention – whether it be education, health, livelihoods, or prevention of violence – will be adequate. While there is a growing literature on the effectiveness of single sector interventions for adolescent girls in urban slum environments, there is not currently data on which package of multi-sectoral interventions is the most effective.

The Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya (AGI-K), a four-year randomized controlled trial, will test combinations of interventions in four sectors in order to determine the most cost-effective approach to help girls make a healthy, safe and productive transition into adulthood. These interventions will be implemented in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya over the course of two years and will comprise a combination of girl-level, household-level, and community-level interventions.

This presentation will highlight key findings from a baseline survey of 2,394 girls ages 11-14 in the Kibera. It will include individual-level and household-level data in four sectors: violence-prevention, education, health and wealth creation. In addition, descriptions of the interventions designed to address the issues illustrated by the baseline data, will be shared.