2006
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
Illuminating the Status of Mayan Girls in Guatemala
Guatemala’s population is among the poorest, least educated, youngest,
and fastest growing in Latin America. Indigenous (Mayan) girls are among the
most disadvantaged, vulnerable members of the population. The Population
Council has conducted research to better understand the status of Mayan
girls. The results of these studies have been used to design programs to
improve Mayan girls’ lives and health and to address the educational
inequities they face.
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Transitions to Adulthood
Ishraq Expands Horizons for Girls in Rural Upper
Egypt
The transition from
childhood to adulthood is often considered a time of growth in
opportunities, self-awareness, and knowledge about the world. For girls in
rural Egypt, however, these changes often do not occur. As girls reach
adolescence, their lives becomes increasingly confined to the home, their
opportunities limited to household chores, and their future prospects
restricted to early marriage and childbearing. A comprehensive program in
rural Upper Egypt, known as Ishraq (“enlightenment”), has succeeded in
expanding the horizons of adolescent girls, increasing their knowledge and
self-confidence and promoting their civic engagement.
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Transitions to Adulthood
Unexplored Elements of Adolescence in the
Developing World
To provide a foundation of information on the
lives of young people, the US National Academies published Growing
Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries
in May 2005. The volume detailed the
findings of an expert panel—led by Cynthia B. Lloyd, Population Council
director of social science research—on transitions to adulthood in
developing countries. As part of its three-year information-gathering
process, the panel commissioned background papers to provide more focused
treatment of certain issues where existing literature was lacking. Ten of these background papers were selected
by the editors for publication in a companion volume, The Changing
Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries: Selected Studies,
which was published in December 2005. Some of the most important
contributions of the volume are its essays on adolescents in China and on
adolescent marriage.
2005
Can Livelihoods Training Alter Girls' Lives?
A program providing reproductive health education and livelihoods
skills training to adolescent girls in the slums of Allahabad, India,
has shown that such interventions are acceptable to parents, feasible to
implement, and exert some positive influence on the circumstances of
girls. However, investigators found that narrowly focused,
short-duration programs may fail to make a broad impact on girls’ lives.
The intervention also highlighted the difficulties inherent in fielding
longitudinal surveys in urban slum areas.
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Transitions to Adulthood
Globalization Is Transforming Adolescence in the
Developing World
More than three years ago, the US National Academies asked Cynthia B.
Lloyd, Population Council director of social science research, to lead
an expert panel in examining transitions to adulthood in developing
countries and outlining the policy implications of its findings. In
2005, the panel’s investigations culminated in the publication of
Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing
Countries. The panel found that despite widespread progress in
certain areas, many young people still lack good health and adequate
schooling—both of which are essential for ensuring their productivity
and well-being. The lives of many of these young men and women are
profoundly different from those of their parents. While change itself is
not new, the speed of globalization has accelerated and its scale has
widened.
2003
Transitions to Adulthood
Broad Survey of Pakistani Youth Completed
Pakistan has one of the
largest cohorts of young people in its history, with approximately 25
million people between the ages of 15 and 24. Through the decisions they
make and the opportunities they are offered, this group will play a
crucial role in the social, political, and economic development and
stability of the country. Until recently little was known about the
details of the lives of Pakistani youth. Population Council investigators
sought to fill this knowledge gap by conducting the largest nationally
representative survey ever to focus on this age group of Pakistanis. The
investigation yielded information about the state of education, work, and
marriage and childbearing, among other insights.
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