After graduation, they are encouraged to attend meetings, develop leadership skills, and avoid marriage until age 19. Because support from men is required, boys and husbands have been invited to take part in solidarity groups in a joint gender progamme. Girls come to the reading centres twice a week for two-hour sessions. They then disseminate their knowledge to other girls in the community. Girls are also trained as Adolescent Leaders and they in turn train peer educators, who facilitate active discussions in the reading centres.
Preliminary observations indicate that the girls emerge with high confidence and awareness.
In the Gambia , one hundred girls from all over the country were brought together in an all girls' conference to discuss such issues as sexual harassment, early marriage, teenage pregnancy and to come up with suggestions and recommendations to improve these. Early marriage was also addressed through sensitisation of communities. These studies identified early marriage as a factor limiting girls' educational opportunities and development. Further research was recommended for developing programme strategies.