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Providing New Opportunities to
Adolescent Girls in Egypt
Out-of-school girls are the most disadvantaged adolescents in rural
Upper Egypt. Compared with girls attending school, they are more likely
to be engaged in poorly paid farm work and be married early. They also
are at greater risk for early childbearing and poor pregnancy outcomes.
The Ishraq (“Enlightenment”) program was created to transform girls’
lives by providing them with safe meeting places, giving them a second
chance for education, and helping them acquire the skills to participate
in the local economy.
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Measurable
Results
The statistics document the impact of
the Ishraq program on the lives of out-of-school girls in
Upper Egypt:
• 92 percent of participants who took the government’s
literacy exam passed.
• 62 percent have entered school (a figure expected to rise
when the eligibility age is lowered from 13 to 11).
• 72 percent were against the practice of female genital
cutting/mutilation after one year of participation in the
program.
• 94 percent said they enjoyed playing sports (like table
tennis, see cover of
PDF). At the beginning of the project, less
than two percent had ever participated in sports.
• 50 percent have joined a local club or association since
participating in the program. |
Initially, Ishraq sought to enroll 50 girls from each of four rural
villages in one of the country’s poorest regions. However, in response
to considerable interest and growing waiting lists, the pilot program,
launched in August 2001, ultimately accommodated 278 girls. More than
900 girls have participated since then. As the program expands, it will
be introduced in as many as 30 villages in Egypt’s three most
impoverished and conservative governorates. With about 50 girls
recruited into the program per village, followed by annual recruitments
in each of the 30 villages, the Council and its partners hope to reach
about 3,000 girls and their families, while building local capacity to
sustain the program over the long run.
Council researchers have evaluated Ishraq rigorously from its inception
(see box). Ishraq is one of ten interventions implemented and documented
by the Population Council in a five-year project on “Adolescent Girls’
Transition to a Safe, Self-Determined, and Productive Adulthood,” funded
by the UK Department for International Development. Its success has led
to preparation for scaling-up the program nationwide with the support of
Egypt’s National Council for Youth and the National Council for
Childhood and Motherhood. The success of Ishraq is prompting the
Council, with strong encouragement from the Government of Yemen, to seek
the resources to adapt the model and pilot it in Yemen.(Return to issue contents)
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