Over 80 percent of new HIV infections among adolescents and youth occur among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). AGYW’s vulnerability to negative health outcomes, HIV/AIDS and poor SRH, does not arise from physiological factors alone, but rather is greatly influenced by larger socio-economic factors, including economic vulnerability and girls’ experience of social isolation. Evidence suggests that mentoring programs may be a promising strategy for building girls’ assets, reducing their social isolation and increasing their economic empowerment.
YouthPower Action carried out a literature review to identify evidence of effecting mentoring programs that has impacted health outcomes and developed and pilot tested a multi-component group-based mentoring intervention consisting of curricula covering sexual and reproductive health, financial capabilities, soft skills, and gender based violence and gender equality content; activities designed to improve participants’ social connectedness; optional onsite STI, HIV, and pregnancy testing along with STI treatment; group-based savings; and links to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including contraceptive and gender-based violence services.
YouthPower Action completed the YouthPower Action AGYW Toolkit. The Toolkit is intended to be implemented by trained mentors and delivered to AGYW in a group-based, safe-space setting. It consists of four parts:
I) The Trainer Handbook designed to support the training of mentors and to provide mentors with the skills they need to work with AGYW;
II) the Mentor Handbook that provides a framework for trained adult female mentors to lead groups of AGYW and consists of 26 sessions covering soft-skills, financial education, and SRH education;
III) the Participant Handbook that includes worksheets and handouts for mentees, as well as a space for mentees to respond to journal prompts; and
IV) the Program Management Handbook which is a collection of resources for program managers to support the implementation of the AGYW mentoring program.
Resources:
Mentor Program for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Uganda Infographic