Reduce vulnerability; nurture success
The Population Council is identifying and documenting issues affecting poor, migrant populations in South Africa. Council research will be used to identify ways to strengthen access to services and to develop interventions for this marginalized group. Photo: Benjamin Porter
The Population Council’s Poverty, Gender, and Youth program (PGY) seeks to understand and address the social dimensions of poverty, the causes and consequences of gender inequality, the disparities in opportunity that arise during adolescence, and the critical elements for reaching a successful, productive adulthood in developing countries.
Program objectives
- Increase the evidence base regarding adolescents, especially of young women, to advance our ability to assist in program and policy development.
- Advance our understanding of health system functioning, and of poverty, health, and population trends.
- Support the tools and means to develop and share an evidence base on topics of PGY concern.
- Expand schooling, financial literacy, and livelihoods initiatives.
- Support emerging issues, maintaining the Population Council’s reputation for cutting-edge, innovative work; for example, developing new tools for sexuality education and urban health.
Impact
- In rural Amhara, Ethiopia, we demonstrated that girls aged 10–14 who are enrolled in our Berhane Hewan program are 90 percent less likely than girls not enrolled to get married.
- We expanded the Ghana Community-based Health Planning and Services Initiative (CHPS) to 106 of Ghana’s 110 districts. The Government of Ghana has made CHPS a cornerstone of its strategy for realizing universal access to health care in the country.
- Through our Demographic Data for Development project, we assessed the quality of available demographic data, the use of data for development, policies and procedures for sharing data, and the demand for data through case studies in four African countries.
- We are scaling up the successful Ishraq program from four to 30 villages in rural Upper Egypt. Ishraq provides out-of-school adolescent girls with a package of services—including the opportunity to participate in sports—to prepare them to make informed, positive decisions about life issues of schooling, marriage, and livelihoods.
- Our Abriendo Oportunidades (“Creating Opportunities”) program in Guatemala strengthens local NGOs and creates safe spaces for Mayan adolescent girls to gather in their communities where they gain practical skills and build social networks. The program trains young female community leaders to build the girls’ life capabilities while further enhancing their own confidence and life skills.
- Our work on adolescent girls’ formal and informal education in the developing world is helping to shape the international agenda on this issue.
Resources
Selected publications
- Poverty, Gender, and Youth Program: From demography to policy (PDF)
Fact sheet
Publication Date: 2009
- And how will you remember me, my child? Redefining fatherhood in Turkey (PDF)
Barker, Gary; Dogruoz, Deniz; Rogow, Debbie
Quality/Calidad/Qualité (no. 19)
Publication Date: 2009 - Demographic Data for Development: Overview report (PDF)
Baldwin, Wendy; Diers, Judith A. - Ethnic fertility differentials in Vietnam and their proximate determinants (PDF)
Amin, Sajeda; Teerawichitchainan, Bussarawan
Poverty, Gender, and Youth Working Paper (no. 18)
Publication Date: 2009 - Education during humanitarian emergencies: The situation of displaced children and youth in Darfur, Sudan (PDF)
El-Kogali, Safaa; Lloyd, Cynthia B.; Rankin, Johanna; Perlman Robinson, Jenny
Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief (no. 32)
Publication Date: 2009
Selected projects
- Addressing the Balance of Burden in AIDS (ABBA) (more)
The Population Council is working within the ABBA Research Programme Consortium on an intervention targeting adolescents in secondary schools in peri-urban communities in the Durban metro area of South Africa.
(6/2006 - ongoing)
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda
HIV care, support, and treatment; Vulnerable populations - Biruh Tesfa: Safe Spaces for Out-of-school Girls in Urban Slum Areas of Ethiopia (more)
Biruh Tesfa seeks to protect the rights of vulnerable urban girls by reducing their social isolation and providing them with health information, including HIV prevention, and services to address sexual exploitation and abuse.
(1/2007 - ongoing)
Ethiopia
Financial literacy/livelihoods; Sexuality education; Social isolation/support - Demographic Data for Development (more)
The Demographic Data for Development project conducted case studies in Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and Uganda to examine accessibility, use, and demand for demographic data.
(8/2008 - 11/2009)
Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda
Population policy and demographic analysis - Developing Capacity for Targeted, Evidence-based Programming and Asset Building for Adolescent Girls (more)
The Council is helping to build the capacity of NGOs, UN country teams, and government agencies to develop effective health, social, and economic asset-building programs for adolescent girls.
(1/2008 - ongoing)
Global, Kenya, Liberia
Financial literacy/livelihoods; Scaling up interventions; Schooling; Social isolation/support
- Developmental Bible: Integrating HIV and Other RH Information in the Teachings of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (more)
The Council is working with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to create a user-friendly booklet that incorporates development messages into the daily teachings of the church.
(5/2008 - 4/2010)
Ethiopia
Integrating health services; Sexuality education - Rethinking Sexuality Education (more)
Evidence-based analyses are being used to develop approaches to sexuality education that emphasize teaching young people to think critically about the social context that drives much of adolescent sexual behavior.
(1/2004 - 12/2009)
Global
Sexuality education
What's New
- "Sometimes, all that stands between a survivor and the help she needs are a few simple questions." The Council’s Chi-Chi Undie discusses intimate partner violence in Africa in a blog post on RH Reality Check. (offsite link)
- Read GIRLS FIRST! a new series that provides recommendations for how the field can quickly and effectively improve girls' lives, by giving them skills, knowledge, meaningful links to others, and a say in their own lives. (more)
- 31 January 2013 | Bixby fellowship application deadline: The Council’s Fred H. Bixby Fellowship Program expands training opportunities for social scientists and biomedical researchers in the health and population fields. The program is geared toward developing-country nationals in the early stages of their careers. (more)
- White paper posted: "Enhancing adolescent financial capabilities through financial education in Bangladesh" (PDF)
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