Every Adolescent Girl Empowered and Resilient (EAGER)

  • P Project/Program

I Inactive

Key Information

IRC’s Every Adolescent Girl Empowered and Resilient (EAGER) project will target up to 32,500 of Sierra Leone’s most marginalised, adolescent girls. This will include girls who are pregnant or young mothers, girls who are married, those who have been affected by Ebola, those affected by violence, and those who are engaged in income-generating activities and/or cannot afford the cost of schooling. The project supported girls in three cohorts which included those who had never been to school or who had dropped out early, with a specific focus on girls with disabilities. EAGER aimed to improve learning and support girls to transition primarily to vocational and professional training, self-employment or other employment, and where feasible, formal/non-formal education. The program had multiple activities, such as: an 11-month learning programme which included nine months of literacy and numeracy classes and life skills classes, followed by two months of business skills classes; it also supported the Government of Sierra Leone to achieve their strategic outcomes for increased literacy for out-of-school youth and engage the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in developing the first approved basic literacy and numeracy curriculum for out-of-school adolescent girls.

Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sierra Leone

Activity URL

https://girlseducationchallenge.org/projects/project/every-adolescent-girl-empowered-and-resilient-eager/

Government Affiliation

Government-affiliated program

Years

2020 - 2023

Partner(s)

BBC Media Action

Ministry Affiliation

Sierra Leone Ministry of Education, Science and Technology

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

Not changed

Geographic Scope

National

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Other

  • Transition from school to work

Other skills

  • Financial literacy
  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education
  • Social and emotional learning
  • Vocational training

Skills

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Early/child marriage
  • Economic/livelihoods (including savings/financial inclusion, etc.)
  • Empowerment
  • Gender equality
  • Mentorship
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Girls out of school, Youth

Age

13 - 17

School Enrolment Status

All out of school

School Level

  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary
  • Vocational

Other populations reached

Not applicable or unknown

Participants include

  • Adolescent mothers (pregnant or parenting)
  • Homeless/street children
  • People with disabilities

Program Approaches Back to Top

Access to school

  • Alternative learning centers/mobile schools/home schools

Increased availability of learning materials

  • Educational Radio or Television Programs

Learning while working

  • Apprenticeship/internship
  • Vocational training
  • Work-study

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power
  • Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills building

Other

  • Informational interventions (e.g. returns to education)

Reducing economic barriers

  • Addressing cost of school supplies
  • Financial literacy training

Tutoring/strengthening academic skills

  • Literacy - outside the classroom
  • Numeracy - outside the classroom

Women's empowerment programs

  • Empowerment training
  • Self-help groups (financial, including savings and credit groups)

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Education sector plans, budgets, policies, and data systems are more gender-equitable
  • Gender parity and non-discrimination are promoted at all subjects/education levels
  • Improved academic skills (literacy and numeracy)
  • Improved critical thinking
  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased re-enrolment in school among out-of-school children
  • Teachers and learners have the knowledge and skills to promote gender equality

Cross-cutting goals

  • Changed social norms
  • Improved critical consciousness
  • Improved financial literacy and savings
  • Improved maternal, newborn, and/or child health (MNCH)
  • Increased agency and empowerment
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms

Additional Information Back to Top

Primary Contact

International Rescue Committee (IRC)