We only use your email address to send you the newsletter and to see how many people are opening our emails. A full privacy policy can be viewed here. You can change your mind at any time and update your preferences or unsubscribe.

Students at Shreeshitalacom Secondary School. Photo: World Bank

Adolescent girls' capabilities in Nepal: the state of the evidence on programme effectiveness

21.12.17 | Nepal

Bodily integrity and freedom from violence | Economic empowerment | Education and learning | Health, Nutrition and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) | Psychosocial well-being | Voice and agency

Authors

Maria Stavropoulou and Nandini Gupta-Archer

This rapid country evidence review brings together key evidence on the effectiveness of interventions seeking to support the capability development of Nepali adolescent girls (aged 10-19). Produced to feed into the design of GAGE’s longitudinal impact evaluation and as a resource for researchers, programme designers and policy makers, this mapping draws on 56 impact studies and evaluations. As a living document to be updated as necessary, it lays out current evidence on “what works” to support girls’ education and learning; bodily autonomy, integrity and freedom from violence; sexual and reproductive health, health and nutrition; psychosocial wellbeing; voice and agency; and economic empowerment.

Our mapping found that of the examined studies, only eleven could be considered rigorous. In addition, some geographical regions were over-represented. Most critically, nearly all studies had short time frames—and were conducted soon after projects ended — and few delineated between different age groups to ascertain whether some types interventions work best for younger versus older girls or adolescent girls versus young women.

Our review concluded that in many ways Nepal’s programming space is comparatively unique. Most importantly, it has been home to thousands of child clubs since the 1990s. These have been found by NGOs to be an excellent venue for reaching young people at scale, albeit in a way that is often too siloed from adult-centred programming. On the other hand, Nepali programming — even that meant for women — has rarely tackled gender-specific issues head-on. This has meant, for example, that even as adolescent girls have been provided with spaces to develop friendships and practise decision-making, issues such as child marriage have remained more tangential.

Suggested citation

Stavropoulou, M. and Gupta-Archer, N. (2017) Adolescent girls’ capabilities in Nepal: the state of the evidence on programme effectiveness. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence. (https://www.gage.odi.org/publication/adolescent-girls-capabilities-nepal-state-evidence-programme-effectiveness/)


Related publications

Reports
13.03.24
Resourcing girls: The potential and challenges of girl- and youth-led organising
Cross-country
Read more
13.03.24 | Reports | Cross-country
Resourcing girls: The potential and challenges of girl- and youth-led organising
Read more
Journal articles
11.03.24
'People will talk about her if she is not circumcised': Exploring the patterning, drivers and gender norms around female genital mutilation in Ethiopia's Somali region
Bodily integrity and freedom from violence
Ethiopia
Read more
11.03.24 | Bodily integrity and freedom from violence | Journal articles | Ethiopia
'People will talk about her if she is not circumcised': Exploring the patterning, drivers and gender norms around female genital mutilation in Ethiopia's Somali region
Read more
Reports
08.03.24
Adolescent bodily integrity in times of crisis in Ethiopia: Evidence from GAGE Round 3
Bodily integrity and freedom from violence
Ethiopia
Read more
08.03.24 | Bodily integrity and freedom from violence | Reports | Ethiopia
Adolescent bodily integrity in times of crisis in Ethiopia: Evidence from GAGE Round 3
Read more