Strengthening Adolescent Girls' Outcomes Through a Safe Spaces Model in Sierra Leone: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Equitable Education for Women and Girls: Global Challenges and Local Solutions

Abstract

Social exclusion, discrimination, gender-based violence, and poverty are some key challenges facing teenage girls in Sierra Leone’s post-humanitarian crisis context. In addition to the curriculum, learning opportunities and outcomes, and teaching methods, a quality education is also concerned with the conditions for learning, that is, creating safe, child-friendly spaces that are conducive to learning. Gender-based violence is a major impediment to adolescent girls’ access to and their completion of junior secondary education in Sierra Leone. While there is near gender parity in primary school enrollment, gender disparity increases at the point of transition to junior secondary school (JSS) (Reilly, 2014), and the rate of girl dropout throughout JSS is higher than that of boys. Freedom from violence can positively impact girls’ access to, and completion of JSS, which in turn contributes to their economic empowerment and the dismantling of unequal power relations between men and women. Girls’ clubs as an intervention to support girls' health and to enable their reintegration into formal education counteract the startling health and education impacts of different forms of gender-based violence, including early marriage and teenage pregnancy, which extend beyond the walls of the family home to the social and economic development of the wider community and nation. A safe spaces model targets adolescent girls’ empowerment through objectives including education, child marriage, gender-based violence, access to economic assets, and change in attitudes and harmful social norms. It adopts a holistic and dynamic approach to ending girls’ vulnerability and focuses on capacity-building and life skills training in supporting adolescent girls that enhance their productivity and self-esteem. The safe space intervention approach constructs safe places that empower girls with awareness, entrepreneurship training, and credit support to become youth voices, make independent health decisions, and live productive lives.
The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review and synthesis of existing research on the empowerment impacts of girls’ clubs in post-conflict Sierra Leone. The study will inform policymakers and stakeholders of the effectiveness of the safe space intervention approach as an innovative response to tackle the challenges facing the prioritization of girls’ education in Sierra Leone. Data sources include a total of 17 studies and reports published in the past ten years, in addition to data from international organizations. A systematic synthesis of secondary data is conducted to determine the direction of association between girls’ clubs and girls’ educational and life-skills outcomes, and to identify key themes across the research; the analysis allows for the identification of implications for policy and practice. Findings of the review provide substantial evidence of the positive impact of girls’ clubs, a common component of school-based and community-based programs, on improving capability outcomes and broader wellbeing of girls in post-conflict Sierra Leone. Implications of the study call for more investment in the safe spaces model as a girl empowerment intervention that prioritizes safety from violence as critical in the struggle for gender equity in a post conflict setting.

Author

• Najwa Hallal, Loyola University Chicago