Adolescent Behavior, Digital Skills, Earning Outcomes, Life Skills, Sexual and Reproductive Health
Conditions
Brief summary
The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial in secondary schools in Nigeria to evaluate the impact of school-based life skills training delivered in safe spaces with and without digital literacy training. This study aims to estimate the causal impacts of the training on adolescents' school performances and retention, socio-emotional skills, digital skills, health, marriage, fertility, and labor market outcomes.
Detailed description
This study will evaluate the impact of a safe-space based life skills training program as well as a combination of life skills and digital literacy training programs on adolescent girls' empowerment, education, economic and sexual and reproductive health outcomes. The interventions form two sub-components of the Adolescent Girls' Initiative for Learning and Empowerment project. The interventions will be delivered to secondary school girls in Northern Nigeria. The study will be conducted in the Kaduna, Katsina and Kano states of Nigeria. The study has a randomized controlled trial research design where schools are randomly allocated to three groups. Girls in schools assigned to the first treatment group will receive the safe-space based life skills training program. Schools allocated to the second treatment group will deliver a digital literacy training program along with a safe-space based life skills training program. The third group of schools will receive neither training program until the completion of the study. Girls between the age of 15 - 20 form the target group of the study. The study will evaluate the impact of (i) a safe space-based life skills training program on adolescent girls' empowerment, education, economic and sexual and reproductive health outcomes; and (ii) a combination of a safe-space based life skills and digital literacy training programs on adolescent girls' empowerment, education, economic and sexual and reproductive health outcomes. A total of 8,463 girls are drawn from 273 schools in the three states. The study will conduct baseline, midline and endline surveys by interviewing the girls and their respective caregivers. The baseline survey is conducted before the intervention roll-out. The midline survey will be conducted six months after intervention completion, while the endline survey will be conducted two years after the completion of the intervention.
Interventions
OTHERSafe Space based life skills training program
This is a Safe Space based life skills training program given to adolescent girls. Girls receive a 12 month long training on life skills such as negotiation skills, communication skills, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and climate change.
OTHERSafe Space based life skills training program + Digital Skills
This is a Safe Space based life skills training program given to adolescent girls complemented with a digital literacy training program. Girls receive a 12 month long training on life skills such as negotiation skills, communication skills, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and climate change. The adolescent girls in this group also receive a digital literacy training program that covers content on word processing. database management and analysis, online marketing, online safety and programming.
Sponsors
World Bank
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Randomized using computer-generated randomization; Outcome assessors blinded against treatment assignment.
Intervention model description
Enrolled participants are randomized to Treatment 1 (Life skills only) Treatment 2 (Life skills + digital skills) and control group (No intervention).
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
15 Years to 20 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Enrolled in study schools * Enrolled in Senior Secondary 1 level * Parental consent
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| High school graduation | 24 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded to 1 if a girl has obtained a high school diploma |
| School retention | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded to 1 if a girl is in school based on school registers |
| Marriage | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if an adolescent girl has ever been married (including cohabitation) and 0 otherwise. |
| Engagement in non-farm income generating activities | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if a girl engaged in any paid non-farm activity in the last completed month |
| Digital financial literacy | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on 30 items that measure respondent's financial literacy and access to digital tools, with a higher score indicating greater literacy and access |
| Socio-emotional skills index | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on indices that measure different socio-emotional skills, e.g., personal initiative, negotiation, decision-making, and communication |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| School absenteeism | 6 months post intervention | number of days a girl missed in the last completed month |
| Enrollment in tertiary education | 24 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded to 1 if a girl is enrolled in tertiary education |
| Sexual violence | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on the frequency of different types of sexual violence reported by the respondent |
| Bullying | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on the frequency of different types of bullying reported by the respondent |
| Knowledge on school-related gender-based violence | 6 months post intervention | the fraction of correct responses to 12 questions that ask whether an act is considered violence |
| Gender attitudes and beliefs | 6 months post intervention | a composite score for (a) gender equality beliefs based on the frequency of the different types of favorable gender equality beliefs, and (b) acceptability of IPV based on the frequency of the different types of violence girls find acceptable |
| Pregnancy | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if an adolescent girl has ever been pregnant and 0 otherwise. |
| Goal setting capacity | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on 8 items that measure the respondent's ability to set a goal |
| Drug use - ever used drug | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if an adolescent girl has ever used drugs and 0 otherwise |
| Health knowledge | 6 months post intervention | a composite score for (a) correct answers on knowledge of SRH, menstruation, and puberty, and (b) correct answers on knowledge of nutrition |
| Sector - ICT | 24 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if a girl engages in income-generating activities related to ICT |
| Number of days worked | 6 months post intervention | number of days a girl was engaged in paid work in the last complete month |
| Income | 6 months post intervention | aggregate income earned in the last completed month |
| Savings | 6 months post intervention | amount saved in the last completed month |
| Perceived social support | 6 months post intervention | mean score from the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support |
| Sexual behavior - ever had sex | 6 months post intervention | a binary indicator coded 1 if an adolescent girl has ever had sex and 0 otherwise. |
| Aspiration - education attainment | 6 months post intervention | a variable that indicates the level of formal education the respondent would like to complete |
| Knowledge of climate change | 6 months post intervention | a composite score calculated based on the correct answers to a list of questions related to climate change |
| Digital skills and knowledge | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on 31 items that measure respondent's technical and operational skills, information navigation and processing skills, communication and interaction skills, and content creation and production skills |
| Knowledge of productivity program | 6 months post intervention | a composite score of items developed based on the digital literacy training curriculum |
| School engagement | 6 months post intervention | a composite score based on 8 items that measure respondent's school engagement |
Countries
Nigeria
Contacts
Primary ContactAdiam Hagos Hailemicheal, MSc
Backup ContactWei Chang, PhD
Outcome results
None listed