UNFPA The Niger Adolescent Girls Initiative

Evidence and Action Special Edition, December 2014

THE NIGER ADOLESCENT GIRLS INITIATIVE

ACCELERATING THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION

© UNFPA Niger

A CALL TO ACTION

Š UNFPA Niger

Evidence and Action is a periodical published by Programme Division. This special edition was produced in partnership with the Niger Country Office. The following are involved in this publication: Mabingue Ngom, Director, Programme Division (overall supervision); Bobby Olarte, Knowledge Management Adviser (publication project coordinator); Monique Clesca, UNFPA Representative in Niger; and, the following staff members in the Niger Country Office: Maria Hyttel, Issa Sadou, Nora Le Jean, Stephanie Tesson, Tagaza Djibo, and Moussa Saley.

Editorial and design support was provided by Rene Desiderio (Fordham University Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs).

For further information about this programme, you may contact the UNFPA Niger Country Office at sadou@unfpa.org or lejean@unfpa.org.

NIGER HAS AN ESTIMATED POPULATION OF 18.3 MILLION IN 2014.

AT 7.6 CHILDREN PER WOMAN,

NIGER Percentage of population in 2010 younger than 25 years old

IT HAS THE WORLD’S HIGHEST FERTILITY RATE. The country ranks at the bottom of UNDP’s 2014 Human Development Index out of 187 countries and territories.

About two-thirds of the population in 2010 are younger than 25 years old. The literacy rate is 28.7 per cent, but it is only 15.1 per cent among females.

The record-high fertility rate can be traced to the low-level use of family planning, compounded by early marriage and consequent childbearing, and short birth spacing. The contraceptive prevalence rate for modern methods is low at 12 per cent. About 30 per cent of the girls are married by the age of 15, and 77 per cent by the age of 18.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, during the High-Level Conversation on Realizing the Demographic Dividend in the Sahel in September 2014, noted that investments in boosting health, nutrition, and human capital will largely determine whether the Africa region can take advantage of a demographic dividend. He added that key investments needed to accelerate the dividend include reproductive health (especially family planning), child health and nutrition, girls’ education, and eliminating harmful cultural practices.

About two-thirds

Percentage of girls married by: the age of 15

30%

the age of 18

77%

The literacy rate among females

15.1% 1

In Africa, children are a life insurance, but when reproductive health services are not provided, household poverty increases and there are not enough resources to cover basic needs.

The government of Niger has committed to accelerate the demographic transition.

H.E. Mr. Mahamadou Issoufou President of the Republic of Niger

women’s high fertility are barriers for the country in

The panelists in the High-Level Dialogue on Realizing the Demographic Dividend in the Sahel. From left: From left to right: UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, World Bank Vice-President Makhtar Diop, President of Côte d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara, President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Chad Idriss Déby, and Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © UNFPA/Omar Kasrawi

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President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, during the same high-level conversation, advocated for increased supply of reproductive health commodities and services in Niger. He explained that the lack of access to reproductive health services coupled with a complex socio-cultural dynamics that favors making the demographic transition.

INVESTING IN NIGER’S ADOLESCENT GIRLS: KNOWLEDGE FOR DIGNITY An innovative programme aiming to reduce early marriage and lower the fertility rate by addressing sociocultural factors is currently implemented in Niger. The initiative plans to provide holistic, non-formal education to 250,000 adolescent girls aged 10-19 years from 2014 to 2018. The number of prospective participants constitutes 1/8 of all adolescent girls in the country, thus creating a critical mass that would bring about positive changes in social norms. The 2014 monitoring data of the initial pilot phase brought in exciting evidence that an

initiative for adolescent girls will work to contribute to the achievement of demographic dividend.

The Niger Adolescent Girls Initiative “Knowledge for Dignity / Burkintaray Bayrey / Ilimin Zama Dunia” is a collaboration between UNFPA Niger country office and the Ministry of Population, Promotion of Women and Child Protection. Lafia Matassa, a national NGO, serves as the implementing partner.

Intervention Strategy Safe Space Monitoring

Mentorship

Knowledge for Dignity Family Engagement

Holistic Programme Community Involvement

3 © UNFPA Niger

Intervention Strategy Safe Space, where the girls feel secure to receive non-formal education. The girls are supervised by a mentor in groups of 20. Safe spaces are established at a health or youth center, town hall or private location.

Mentorship from trained female mentors 25 to 40 years old. Mentors live in the adolescent girls communities, have a high school diploma or completed the 12th grade level of school. The responsibilities of the mentors are to train, assess and serve as role models to the adolescent girls.

Holistic Programme that consists of health check-up for girls, basic literacy and numeracy training, protection with provision of birth certificates, awareness raising on issues related to sexual and reproductive health, utilization of reproductive health services, building self-esteem, decision making and public speaking skills, managing finances and livelihood skills.

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Community Involvement through dialogue organized by community facilitators. These “community conversations� include key issues such as education of girls, adolescent pregnancy and its adverse consequences, early and forced marriage, family planning and reproductive health, rights of girls and genderbased violence.

Š UNFPA Niger

Family Engagement through home visits by mentors. During these visits mentors raise awareness and advocate against early and forced marriage, and teenage pregnancy, and also promote reproductive health and rights of girls.

Programme Monitoring in order to guide the implementation and enable fine-tuning and adjustments.

These elements in intervention strategy will work synergistically to deliver new knowledge and skills especially to the girls but also to their parents and the community. As has been established in knowledge-behavior causal studies, the acquisition of new knowledge creates the foundation of new behavior.

THIS PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTES TO THE LOWERING OF THE FERTILITY RATES BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF EARLY MARRIAGES AND INCREASING THE USE OF CONTRACEPTIVES. It complements with other interventions such as family planning, access to reproductive health commodities and services, strengthening the nursing and midwifery work force, and improving child health and nutrition.

This is the type of low-cost, low-risk and high-impact interventions with great potential to secure a colossal demographic dividend and transform the economic and social future of Niger at large.

Mabingue Ngom Director, Programme Division, UNFPA 5

Š UNFPA Niger

THE PILOT PROJECT MONITORING FINDINGS The pilot project was conducted from August 2013 to April 2014 to gather evidence on the programme effectiveness and to understand the operational challenges. It benefited 1,557 girls from 4 regions (Tillaberi, Niamey, Maradi, and Zinder). Data from the assessment of the pilot phase show increased knowledge and skills, changed attitudes and other positive changes among the girls.

1

Positive changes in the attitude and behavior of the girls

2

Enhanced financial capacity

3

Positive attitude of girls’ parents

4

Engaged community

1

Positive changes in the attitude and behavior of the girls MARRIAGE

93%

Approximately 93 per cent of the adolescent girls agree that it is their responsibility to choose their spouse, and most of them want to get married at the age of 19, have their first child at the age of 21, and give birth to six children.

EDUCATION 61 per cent of adolescent girls can read the alphabet after the sessions 61% compared to 21 per cent before the start of the programme. Nearly 29 per cent of the adolescent girls can read a simple sentence after the literacy classes, while only eight per cent could read prior to the programme.

The girls have realized that education can offer them a better quality of life and some highly motivated girls have decided to return to school.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

98%

6 Š UNFPA Niger

All the adolescent girls want to share their knowledge, and nearly 98 per cent have recommended the Initiative to other girls.

HEALTH-RELATED ISSUES Contraceptive use has nearly doubled, although it is still low, from approximately 19 to 34 per cent among married girls, and from slightly over three to seven per cent among never-married girls. The contraceptive use increased from six to eleven per cent among all the girls (see figure below). This happened despite lack of reproductive health services and commodities.

Before the pilot phase

After the pilot phase 19%

Married girls Never married girls All girls

3%

34%

7% 6%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Some 92% of the girls are aware of where to go for an HIV test after the pilot phase, while only 18 per cent knew prior to it (see below chart).

Before the pilot phase STI protection HIV test location awareness

After the pilot phase 41%

15% 18%

0%

10%

About 89 per cent 窶覚f the girls know at 640% least three family INCREASE planning methods; while before the programme, only 12 per cent was aware of any family planning methods.

92% 20%

30%

40%

50%

All the girls are aware of the risks 260% of obstetric fistula INCREASE in the event of early and close pregnancy, while only 28 per cent had heard of it before the programme.

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

About 41 per cent of the girls know how 170% adolescent to protect themselves INCREASE from sexually transmitted infections (STI) after the learning sessions, while only 15 per cent knew about it prior to the programme.

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2

3

Enhanced financial capacity

Some 92 per cent of the girls know the importance of savings after the pilot phase, in contrast to only 38 per cent before. Ninety-seven per cent have set up a savings plan and managed to save on average 3500 CFA Francs during the pilot phase. This is a significant increase from 28 per cent before the programme. Furthermore, 63 per cent have chosen to participate in the “tontine” community savings system where only 30 per cent participated before.

Before the pilot phase Tontine participation Saving plan

63%

30% 28%

97% 39%

Importance of saving 0%

After the pilot phase

20%

40%

92% 60%

80%

100%

The girls who successfully completed the programme have expressed interest and need to be further trained in income-generating activities and acquire livelihood skills. These empowered girls are keen to start their own businesses and in the long run, to become not only productive mothers and wives but also economically independent members of the community.

“My daughter has changed. She is more respectful and takes care of her hygiene. She is more open, more sociable than her sisters. At home, she shares all the skills she has learned from the programme.”

Mother of a girl in the Programme Filingue, Tillaberi region 8

Positive attitude of girls’ parents

Parents are satisfied with the changes in their daughters’ attitudes and behavior, including better social skills and engagement of more productive activities.

Parents have more open and frequent communication with their daughters.

Parents and daughters are now discussing early and forced marriage practices.

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Engaged community

The communities openly discussed for the first time sensitive issues and topics.

They confirmed the need for further discussion and debate.

They have recognized the risks of early marriage and pregnancy and have made commitments to fight against these practices.

INVESTMENT IN ADOLESCENT GIRLS YIELDS ENORMOUS RETURNS The results of the pilot suggest that the programme is effective.

In this regard, the programme will proceed, as planned, to cover 250,000 girls by 2018. UNFPA calls on partners to support this initiative so that the people of Niger will eventually achieve the benefits of demographic dividend.

During the September 2014 high-level conversation, the World Bank Group’s Vice President for the Africa Region Makhtar Diop indicated increasing commitment to invest in demographics and reproductive health. UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin stated, “Adolescent girls must be empowered to make informed decisions, have control over their bodies, and stay healthy.

Only then can they realize their full potential.”

“Over the last [few] years, maternal health and demographics are at the centre of our concerns.”

World Bank Group’s Vice President for the Africa Region Makhtar Diop

9 © UNFPA Niger

“If we can ensure that even the poorest, most marginalized adolescent girl is able to stay in school, is protected from early marriage and violence, has access to the information and means to avoid unwanted pregnancy, is equipped with skills and afforded choices and opportunities, she will help build a better future for her family, her country and the world.

Investment in adolescent girls yields enormous returns.�

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, UNFPA

Acknowledgments UNFPA thanks the following for the investments made in the pilot phase of the Niger Adolescent Girls Initiative: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) Reproductive Health Commodity Securities Fund Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) Programme implementation is being done by the UNFPA Niger Country Office in collaboration with the following partners: Ministry of Population, Promotion of Women and Child Protection Lafia Matassa, a national NGO

United Nations Population Fund 605 Third Avenue New York, NY 10158 www.unfpa.org