Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694859509922.pdf (Australia)
Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 We wish to acknowledge the strong commitment to gender equality for women evidenced by Australia’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy 20163 (the Gender Equality Strategy) and an 80% performance target for aid and development investments to address gender inequality.
We recognise and welcome the programs where adolescent girls do benefit and wish to make clear that Australia does invest in some programs which directly target adolescent girls.

However this investment is ad hoc in nature and there is limited data available to illustrate how effective Australia’s aid is in outcomes for adolescent girls.
Additionally, there is limited visibility of adolescent girls in aid and development policy (such as the Gender Equality Strategy) which means that Australia’s ability to achieve gender equality for the next generation of women is neither strategic nor sustainable.
In order for Australia’s commitment to gender equality to have a long term, sustainable impact, Australia’s approach must recognise and meet the needs of girls and women across all age demographics and across all intersectional issues that further marginalise them.

If Australia’s approach to advancing gender equality through the aid program is not intersectional and inter-generational, it will continue to struggle to achieve its objectives.
Our submission supports strengthening Australia’s commitment to gender equality by: 1.

Developing clear policy and implementation strategies that recognise the unique needs of girls alongside women; 2.

Ear-marking investment to specifically target and benefit adolescent girls; and 3.

Improving data collection to ensure that monitoring and evaluation of Australia’s aid and development captures the impact for adolescent girls.
Summary of Recommendations The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade develop a stand-alone action plan on achieving gender equality for adolescent girls through Australia’s foreign policy, trade, aid and development.

DFAT set a target that at least 15 per cent of all investments with the principal or significant objective of advancing gender equality identify adolescent girls as the primary beneficiaries by 2030.
Increase overall investment in initiatives where the ‘principal’ objective is gender equality to 20 per cent by 2030.

All DFAT performance management frameworks and standards should require age disaggregated data to be collected alongside sex disaggregated data.

Aid Investment Plans and Aid Partnership Arrangements include clear objectives and outcomes that address the unique challenges for adolescent girls.
This should be guided by DFAT’s strategic approach as outlined in a stand-alone adolescent girls plan.

2 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 Increase investment in Pacific Girl (as part of Pacific Women) to grow and strengthen the regional focus on adolescent girls in the Pacific as a long term strategy to promoting gender equality.

2.
2.

About Plan International Plan International is one of the world’s oldest and largest child rights development agencies.

We work in over 70 countries around the world to tackle the root causes of poverty, inequality and injustice.

We strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls - working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners to achieve change.

Plan International is independent, with no religious affiliation.

3.
3.

Why a stronger focus on adolescent girls is needed There are close to 600 million adolescent girls living in the world today with 500 million in developing countries.4 Importantly, more than half the global population of adolescent girls are on our doorstep, growing up in the countries that we provide aid and development to, and trade and engage with on foreign policy.
Our neighbours in South Asia host a staggering 340 million adolescent girls and boys, and East Asia and the Pacific are home to 277 million adolescents.5 In the Sub-Saharan region, where we provide the most in humanitarian aid, 10 to 19 year olds make up almost one quarter of the region’s population.

There is growing evidence that the key to unlocking a country’s economic prosperity sits with adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 years of age.
In October 2016, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its State of World Population 2016 report; identifying girls aged 10 as the key group whose potential, if unlocked, will create the economic and social conditions needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
When girls are educated, empowered and treated as equals, they hold the key to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and driving progress for everyone – for themselves, their families, communities and countries.

6 Despite the clear and indivisible link between gender equality and economic prosperity, today, adolescent girls face exclusion, discrimination and violence that significantly diminishes their potential.
The statistics paint an alarmingly bleak picture of what faces adolescent girls around the globe:  More than 120 million girls worldwide have experienced sexual violence7 and more than 200 million girls and women have been subject to female genital mutilation8.

 More than 34 million adolescent girls are out of lower secondary education, denying them access to tertiary qualifications and skilled employment.
3 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36  Every year, 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth and another one million girls under 15 give birth.

4.

Adolescent girls’ needs are unique and different to older women It is now widely recognised that adolescence is a crucial time in the transition from childhood to adulthood.
The expectations, opportunities, risks and needs for girls and boys diverge considerably during adolescence.

Where adolescent boys are offered opportunities to continue their education with the expectation of employment and income, the opportunities for adolescent girls to progress through secondary education (especially upper secondary school) rapidly diminishes, denying future economic opportunities and financial independence.
Where the burden of household chores eases for boys as they get older, it only increases for adolescent girls as they take on adult roles of domestic work and caring for family.

Where adolescent boys are assuming leadership roles in their families and communities, adolescent girls’ freedoms are being curtailed and decisions are made by their families that determine the course of their lives.
Adolescence is a time of rapid and life-changing physical and emotional development that has its own unique challenges for adolescent girls.

Puberty and evolving sexual maturity places girls at heightened risk of sexual and physical violence in the home, in their relationships and at school.

The challenges associated with menstruation; the taboos, lack of sanitary products and toilets at schools can limit girls’ freedoms and access to education.
Gendered social and cultural norms and behaviours begin to play a significant role in shaping adolescent girls’ experiences and can result in child marriage, intimate partner violence and early pregnancy.

It can also limit adolescent girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health information and services necessary to maintain good health and avoid unintended pregnancies.
When adolescent girls experience pregnancy, they are at high risk of maternal and birth related complications – much more so than women over the age of 18.

5.

Australia’s strategic and development goals Australia’s Gender Equality Strategy The Gender Equality Strategy identifies the three priority areas of women’s decision-making and leadership, women’s economic empowerment and violence against women and girls.

This is an important and powerful set of priorities.
However, the language of this policy document fails to recognise the unique needs of adolescent girls and the role of aid and development investments and programs to address these needs.

For example, interventions to promote women’s economic empowerment focus solely on older women and no reference is made to gender transformative youth economic empowerment strategies.
Similarly, a focus on women’s leadership misses the importance of strengthening leadership opportunities for girls and young women through school, their communities and at a national 4 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 and regional level, another key intervention that can place girls on a path to achieving gender equality as they transition to adulthood.
With a weak strategic policy focus in the Gender Equality Strategy on achieving gender equality for the next generation of women, Australia’s aid program has no clear path for how it will invest in programs that transform the lives of adolescent girls.
There is enormous potential for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to build on its commitment to achieving gender equality globally by developing a stand-alone action plan for adolescent girls, similar to the US Government’s 2016 Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls.

The United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls sets out an ambitious road map for tackling the barriers that keep adolescent girls from reaching their full potential.
The Global Strategy includes an implementation plan for each of the departments responsible for helping girls aged 10 to 19 around the world achieve their full potential.

One example of how a clear strategy on adolescent girls can guide investments and ensure that they directly benefit girls is USAID’s investment in secondary education for adolescent girls in Pakistan.

USAID committed $70 million to help educate and empower over 200,000 adolescent girls in Pakistan.
The Sindh Basic Education Program mobilises communities to increase girls’ enrolment and trains female teachers.

USAID is rebuilding girls’ schools damaged by conflict and national disasters in the Federal Administered Tribal Areas.9 We recommend that Australia adopts a similar approach to the United States to improve the impact of its gender equality investments.
An adolescent girls action plan provides a clear road map for the future, identifying the key challenges and the evidence based programs and foreign policy interventions that will directly benefit adolescent girls in the countries that Australia engages with and invests in.
The action plan would be a clear statement on how the Australian Government will address the specific challenges facing adolescent girls in order to reduce gender-based violence, promote their sexual and reproductive health, encourage their economic empowerment, ensure access to inclusive and equitable education, enable girls’ leadership, and protect adolescent girls during disasters and emergencies.
Recommendation: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade develop a stand-alone action plan on achieving gender equality for adolescent girls through Australia’s foreign policy, trade, aid and development.
5 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 Australia’s 80% gender equality investment target The Gender Equality Strategy identifies a number of economic measures to strengthen gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in aid and development including the Gender Equality Fund, reporting on aid expenditure where gender is a ’significant’ or ‘principal’ objective and a policy commitment to ensuring that 80 per cent of all aid investments address gender issues.
The recent OECD Review of the Australian Aid Program recognised “gender equality is genuinely a cross-cutting issue for DFAT” and commended the approach of the Government.

The OECD identified that Australia’s 54% of Australia’s bilateral aid has gender equality as a significant or principle investment higher than the DAC country average of 36.3%.
However, of this 54% the majority (95%) was a significant objective, which includes investments where gender equality is a secondary objective and where current reporting makes it impossible to know how much of the total investment directly addresses gender inequality.
For 2016-17, this figure increases to 62% of allocable aid, though the vast majority of these investments had gender equality as a significant (54%) rather than principle (8%) objective.10 Of the 10 performance targets, gender equality is the only target that has not been met, and has in fact gone backwards.
Seventy-seven percent of aid investments effectively addressed gender equality in 2016-17, down from 78% in 2015-16.11 Additionally, there is little evidence that Australia’s 80 per cent target on gender equality has benefited adolescent girls as a group with unique needs and challenges.
The Aid Program Performance Report 2016-17 for the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) identifies the benefits of investments for women however, adolescent girls as a beneficiary group are entirely absent from this reporting.
We believe that in order to ensure that Australia’s overseas aid and development assistance contributes to gender equality for the next generation of women, there must be a stand-alone target for adolescent girls to ensure their visibility in aid expenditure and strengthen transparency in reporting.

We recommend a target of that of all investment with a principal or significant objective to achieve gender equality, 15% should identify adolescent girls as a primary beneficiary by 2030.
More broadly the Government should set spending targets for principal and significant gender equality investments in the Australian Aid program.

Recommendations: Set a target that at least 15 per cent of all investments with the principal or significant objective of advancing gender equality identify adolescent girls as the primary beneficiaries by 2030.
6 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 Increase overall investment in initiatives where the ‘principal’ objective is gender equality to 20 per cent by 2030.

6.

Measuring and evaluating performance of Australian aid There are ongoing challenges in measuring Australia’s aid and development performance in terms of its benefit to adolescent girls.
Australia’s performance framework is outlined in the 2014 Making Performance Count: enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid which sets out the high level framework for measuring Australia’s performance.

The framework recognises that: Investments may need to improve sex-disaggregated data collection to better understand the impacts of an investment on women and girls.
However it fails to recognise that to better understand the impacts on all women and girls, data requires disaggregation by age as well as other intersectional issues.

DFAT’s Aid Program Performance Reports (APPRs) are the principal mechanism in DFAT to assess the performance of country and regional aid programs.

Each year ODE reviews APPR quality, and highlights strengths and opportunities for improvement.
The 2016 the APPR has a specific analysis of gender equality and focusses primarily on gender disaggregated data.
A more nuanced approach to the APPR would be to recognise the need to include age disaggregated data when reporting on gender equality performance across countries and programs.12 Similarly, the DFAT Monitoring and Evaluation Standards recognises the need to collect data on “special groups” which include girls (amongst other groups) this is only necessary where tailored interventions are required.
We would argue that in order to effectively measure the impact of all investments, both gender and disaggregated data must be collected consistently across all programs.

Recommendation All DFAT performance management frameworks and standards should require age disaggregated data to be collected alongside sex disaggregated data.

7.
7.

Strengthening country specific aid investment plans and aid partnership agreements We have provided some examples of how Australia’s aid and development policy and practice could be strengthened to ensure that the commitment to achieving gender equality has long term, sustainable benefit for adolescent girls.
7 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 Ending gender based violence against women and girls Though there is limited data on adolescent girls’ experiences of violence, especially younger adolescent girls (aged 10 to 14), what we do know paints a troubling picture of their lives, particularly for girls that live in parts of the Pacific and South Asia.
For example, rape and sexual violence against girls is particularly high in the Solomon Islands where a study found that 42 per cent of women surveyed who had their first sexual experience before the age of 15 reported it was forced.13 Of those, 36 per cent identified their boyfriend as the perpetrator, 24 per cent identified a stranger and 19 per cent identified a family member as the perpetrator.14 Of the women who had their first sexual experience between the ages of 15 and 17, 24 per cent reported that it was forced.15 Gender based violence at schools is pervasive and unique to girls of school age.
Adolescent girls face significant challenges in accessing education due to the high rates of school related gender based violence, both at school and travelling to and from schools.

Girls experience sexual harassment and abuse, bullying and physical violence which drives up the rates of girls being absent from and dropping out of school.
A comprehensive study conducted by Plan International in 2015 (where 9,000 students aged 12 to 17 were surveyed across five countries in Asia) found that one in three girls who experience violence at school will never report the incident.
16 The study found that inequitable gender attitudes of students and teachers and gender stereotyping were key drivers of violence.17 Despite the unique challenges for girls, there is a limited focus on girls (aged 10 to 19) in Australia’s policy commitments and aid investment plans as evidenced by the Office of Development Effectiveness’ (ODE’s) new evaluation of Australia’s development assistance to end violence against women and girls.
The ODE produced a paper analysing Australia’s commitments to ending violence against women and girls overseas as articulated in Australian aid policies and strategies as well as in domestic, regional and global documents.18 The policy paper found a weakness in Australia’s policy commitments on girls experiencing violence.
The paper states that: “while DFAT’s aid policies and strategies consistently mention violence against women and girls, support for girls at times is less apparent in policy commitments and program implementation.

The specific and different needs of girls/children are generally not addressed in the documents reviewed.”19 The paper found that Aid Investment Plans and Aid Partnership Arrangements girls were absent.
8 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 “For most countries where Australia provides aid (other than Federated States of Micronesia, Pakistan, Samoa, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu), commitments relate only to ending violence against women and do not mention girls/children at all.”20 This is one example illustrating the clear need for girls to be recognised in all policy documents including Aid Investment Plans and Aid Partnership Arrangements.
We would argue that this not only be the case in the area of ending violence against women and girls but all of the key areas that affect girls’ lives including economic empowerment, leadership, women, peace and security, education and sexual and reproductive health rights.
Secondary education in the Solomon Islands Every year of secondary education that an adolescent girl can access and complete, yields greater returns for herself, her family and the nation’s productivity and economic growth.21 There has been important progress, globally, in increasing girls’ enrolment in primary education, but this alone will not provide the conditions necessary to create economic prosperity.
With the onset of puberty adolescent girls face unique challenges such as gendered norms and circumstances that lead to girls dropping out of secondary school - such as child marriage, early and unplanned pregnancies and the expectation and burden of domestic work.

In the Solomon Islands, the statistics show troublingly high drop-out rates of adolescent girls from the age of 15.
Recent statistics identify that 74% of girls are enrolled in lower secondary school, however this drops to only 27% of girls enrolled in upper secondary school.

For girls who are unable to complete their secondary education, bridging the gap to employment and future economic opportunities is near impossible.
Despite the dire circumstances in which adolescent girls find themselves in terms of accessing secondary education, there is little focus on this in the most recent Aid Investment Plan on improving access to upper secondary education.

Instead, the Plan articulates a focus on basic and primary education: “Basic education will remain a focus of a trilateral partnership with New Zealand and Solomon Islands Government.
We will continue our assistance to improve literacy and numeracy for girls and boys at primary school.

We will prioritise investments to improve teacher quality and resources for teaching and learning in schools.

We will also support improved school-based management through pilots in social accountability.”22 This is one small illustration of how adolescent girls’ needs are not effectively and directly addressed via existing Aid Investment Plans.
Recommendation 9 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 Aid Investment Plans and Aid Partnership Arrangements include clear objectives and outcomes that address the unique challenges for adolescent girls.

This should be guided by DFAT’s strategic approach as outlined in a stand-alone adolescent girls plan.

8.
8.

Strengthening the regional focus on adolescent girls Pacific Women is a flagship initiative strengthening gender equality in the Pacific.
Pacific Women commits AU$320 million to improve the political, economic and social opportunities of Pacific women.23 It supports 14 Pacific countries to meet the commitments made in the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration working with a range of partners including Pacific governments, civil society organisations, regional and multilateral agencies and the private sector Most recently Pacific Women engaged Plan International as a part of consultancy to develop a plan to guide Pacific Women’s investments that focus on adolescent girls, to be known as Pacific Girl.
Pacific Girl has an overall budget for regional learning and country-specific programming and advocacy activities of approximately AU$3 million over four years, from July 2018 to June 2022.24 We welcome this specific and strategic commitment to adolescent girls at a regional level.

This is an example of Australia’s aid program identifying the gap in addressing gender equality for adolescent girls and taking the first step in developing strategies that will strengthen this focus.
Given the model adopted by Pacific Women, we believe that Pacific Girl should continue to grow as a flagship initiative for Pacific Women.

The $3m that has been earmarked over three years until 2022 is a small investment given the significant interventions required to support adolescent girls in the Pacific to achieve gender equality.

Recommendations Increase investment in Pacific Girl (as part of Pacific Women) to grow and strengthen the regional focus on adolescent girls in the Pacific in the long term.
9.
Conclusion Though we support the strong high level commitment to gender equality in Australia’s aid and development program, our submission illustrates how the effectiveness of this commitment must be strengthened with a deeper understanding of and approach to 10 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 promoting gender equality for all women and girls – recognising the inter-generational and intersectional issues the women and girls face.
Our submission illustrates how this requires:  a deeper understanding of the issues facing adolescent girls in Australia’s aid and development program,  a clear and strategic approach to promoting gender equality for girls aged 10 to 19 through a stand-alone action plan,  clear investment targets that ear-mark investment for programming for girls,  improved performance management frameworks that collect the right age and sex disaggregated data to measure effectiveness, and  strengthened focus and visibility on adolescent girls in bilateral aid investment and aid partnership agreements  a commitment to grow the regional focus in the Pacific on adolescent girls through Pacific girl.
We wish you well in finalising your review.

1 The Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT, The Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) 2017-18 Fact Sheet, 19 December 2017 accessed 14 June 2018 and available at http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/aid/Pages/the-australian-ngo-cooperation-program-fact- sheet.aspx 2 Data from Australian Council for International Development’s 2016 Annual Survey as cited in ACFID Australia’s aid and development organisations fact sheet.
3 Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT (2016), Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, available at http://dfat.gov.au/about- us/publications/documents/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment-strategy.pdf 4 UNICEF Data, Some 1.2 billion adolescents aged 10-19 years today make up 16 per cent of the world’s population (June 2016) https://data.unicef.org/topic/adolescents/adolescent-demographics/#.

5 Ibid.
6 Ian Wishart, CEO, Plan International Australia, “Girls are the key to a sustainable future, so why are they still invisible?” ACFID blog https://acfid.asn.au/sites/site.acfid/files/Wishart%2C%20Ian%20- %20Girls%20are%20the%20key%20to%20a%20sustainable%20future%2C%20so%20why%20are%20they%20still%20invisible.pdf 7 United Nations Children’s Fund, Ending Child Marriage: Progress and prospects, UNICEF, New York, 2014 https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf 8 United Nations Children’s Fund, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Global Concern, UNICEF, New York, 2016 https://www.unicef.org/media/files/FGMC_2016_brochure_final_UNICEF_SPREAD.pdf 9 USAid, Empowering Women and Girls: Increasing Girls Access to Educaiton accessed 8 June 2018 < https://www.usaid.gov/empowering- women-and-girls-0> 10 Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT (2018).
Performance of Australian Aid, 2016-2017, p15, available from: http://dfat.gov.au/about- us/publications/Pages/performance-of-australian-aid-2016-17.aspx 11 Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT (2018).
Performance of Australian Aid, 2016-2017, p11, available from: http://dfat.gov.au/about- us/publications/Pages/performance-of-australian-aid-2016-17.aspx 12 Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT, 2016 Quality Review of Aid Program Performance Reports accessed on 12 June at http://dfat.gov.au/aid/how-we-measure-performance/ode/Documents/2016-quality-review-apprs.pdf pg 15 13 Pacific Community (SPC), Solomon Islands Family Health and Safety Study, (December 2009) p.34.

14 Ibid.

p.89 15 Ibid.


16 Plan International & International Center for Research on Women, Are Schools Safe and Equal Places for Girls and Boys in Asia?

Bangkok (February 2015) p 7- 9.

17 Ibid.
11 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36 18 Commonwealth of Australia, Guidance paper prepared by Dr Nicole Dicker, Strategic Development Group for DFAT, Policy Analysis: Australia’s Commitments to Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (November 2017) accessed 12 June 2018 at http://dfat.gov.au/aid/how-we-measure-performance/ode/strategic-evaluations/Documents/ode-evawg-policy-analysis.pdf 19 Ibid.
p15 20 Ibid.

21 UNFPA, State of World Population 2016, New York (2016) p.65.
22 Commonwealth of Australia, DFAT, Aid Investment Plan Solomon Islands: 2015-16 to 2018-19, accessed at http://dfat.gov.au/about- us/publications/Pages/aid-investment-plan-aip-solomon-islands-2015-16-to-2018-19.aspx 23 Information accessed on 12 June 2018 at https://pacificwomen.org/ 24 Pacific Women, ‘Pacific Girls, Supporting Adolescents to Reach their Potential’ accessed on 12 June 2018 https://pacificwomen.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/11/FINAL_Pacific-Girl-TOR-2.pdf 12 Inquiry into the strategic effectiveness and outcomes of Australia's aid program in the Indo-Pacific and its role insupporting Australia’s regional interestsSubmission 36