Population Council Research that makes a difference

Empowering Girls:
Where Change Is Happening;
Where Change Is Needed

The Population Council’s Poverty, Gender, and Youth program focuses on adolescent girls because they face significant disadvantages that impede their social, health, and economic opportunities.

Because of gender bias and marginalization, girls are often seen as unworthy of investment or protection by their families or communities. Poor girls are often forced to marry at very young ages and are vulnerable to HIV, sexual violence, and early pregnancy. They are often invisible in development programs and policies. Yet given their future role in determining the health and income of families, they are critical assets to their communities. When we reach the most vulnerable adolescents and give them life skills, education, and social opportunities, we can increase the odds that they will become healthy and economically productive adults. Our research proves that we must focus on 10–19-year-olds, often targeting girls as young as age 10 or younger.

The Council's innovative research and programs on adolescent girls are on the world's stage this month at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City; a European Parliament hearing in Belgium; a workshop sponsored by the UK Department for International Development, Save the Children UK, and Ethiopia Ministry of Women, Children & Youth Affairs; and the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference 2011 in Washington, DC.

Links

• Council senior associate Judith Bruce made opening remarks at a breakout session on girls and women at the Clinton Global Initiative's Annual Meeting 2011 in New York, Thursday, 22 September, entitled "What to Scale, Where to Scale" (offsite video)
• Senior associate and Ethiopia country director Annabel Erulkar presented "Ending child marriage in one generation: Strategies in good programmatic practice" at a workshop in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, 20 September (PDF)
• Associate Karen Austrian presented new findings from Safe and Smart Savings Products for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls in Kenya and Uganda at a conference in Washington, DC, 9 September (PDF)
• Staff associate Sarah Engebretsen presented "Acting before migration: The push and pull factors of girls' migration" at Girls in Migration: Collateral Victims or Actors of a World in Motion?, a hearing in the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, 21 September

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About the Population Council
The Population Council confronts critical health and development issues—from stopping the spread of HIV to improving reproductive health and ensuring that young people lead full and productive lives. Through biomedical, social science, and public health research in 50 countries, we work with our partners to deliver solutions that lead to more effective policies, programs, and technologies that improve lives around the world. Established in 1952 and headquartered in New York, the Council is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization governed by an international board of trustees.

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Media contact

Diane Rubino: drubino@popcouncil.org; +1 212 339 0617