Girl Empower: Studying the Impact of Mentorship, Asset Building, Caregiver Discussion Groups, and Cash Transfers on Reducing Girl's Vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Girl Empower (GE) is a program designed to equip girls with the skills and experiences necessary to make healthy, strategic life choices and to stay safe from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Detailed Description
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The GE program is unique in its approach because it addresses girls' needs holistically. The girls' activities will take place in girl-only safe spaces located in their communities and contains the following components: Mentorship: girls have access to older female mentors. Mentors both provide weekly group-based and one-to-one interaction with girls as well as teach them critical skills; Asset building: Girls will have access to life skills and financial literacy training. This includes setting up savings accounts so girls practice their financial literacy skills, Monthly caregiver discussion groups among guardians of program girls, Capacity building and training of local health and psychosocial service providers to provide quality services to survivors of gender-based violence Intervention communities will either receive the GE program alone or the GE program with the plus small cash transfers to the girls' families as an incentive to attendance in weekly sessions (GE+).

Official Title
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Girl Empower: Studying the Impact of Mentorship, Asset Building, Caregiver Discussion Groups, and Cash Transfers on Reducing Girl's Vulnerability to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Conditions
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Adolescent Behavior, Sexual Violence

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Girl Empower Program


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Healthy, eligible girls aged 13 to 14 years of age. Exclusion Criteria: -

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 13 Years
Maximum Age: 14 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: The impact evaluation study is a cluster-randomized controlled trial among 100 communities with three study arms: control (no intervention), GE, and GE+.
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Arm 1<br>1) the Girl Empower life skills curriculum, facilitated by local mentors; 2) caregiver discussion group, facilitated by IRC staff | |
| Experimental: Arm 2<br>1) the Girl Empower life skills curriculum, facilitated by local mentors; 2) caregiver discussion group, facilitated by IRC staff; and 3) savings account start-up | Behavioral: Girl Empower Program<br>* Girl Empower (GE) encourages adolescent girls living in rural areas of Nimba County, Liberia to partake in weekly mentored community-based workshops on life skills, selfcare, and financial literacy.<br>|
| Active Comparator: Arm 3<br>1) the Girl Empower life skills curriculum, facilitated by local mentors; 2) caregiver discussion group, facilitated by IRC staff; and 3) savings account start-up. | Behavioral: Girl Empower Program<br>* Girl Empower (GE) encourages adolescent girls living in rural areas of Nimba County, Liberia to partake in weekly mentored community-based workshops on life skills, selfcare, and financial literacy.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sexual Violence Index | The primary outcome of interest is an index of sexual violence at the individual level. The index is composed of four questions in the endline survey instrument. The construction of the index, and a detailed description of its components is described in the pre-analysis plan (PAP) document uploaded under the Analysis Plan in this registration. | 40 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Adolescent Behavior, Sexual Violence