Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents

The Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents (SOFEA) project is a BRAC initiative aimed at providing adolescent girls with financial and social support to enable them to empower themselves. It has six components designed to achieve its objectives through a holistic approach. These include a club that provides a safe place for girls aged 11-21 years to socialize; training on life skills that enable girls to acquire the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions; livelihood training for girls that enable them to learn the skills required for economic opportunities; training to equip girls with financial literacy; savings and credit facilities; and community sensitization to increase the community’s ownership towards the club.

There are 360 SoFEA clubs established in 5 Upazilas/Thana of Bangladesh.

Area Covered:

• Dhamrai Upazila (Dhaka District)
• Puthiya Thana (Rajshahi District),
• Santhia Upazila (Pabna District),
• Barura Upazila (Comilla District),
• Magura Sadar Upazila (Magura District)

It offers:

• Financial literacy
• Savings and credit facilities
• Training on life-skills
• Safe spaces, known as "Clubs", for girls to socialize
• Livelihood training
• Community participation

Read Stories:
Insana's Story: A Student and a Teacher.
Jasmine Lamb: Girl Effect Enthusiast Raises Money for BRAC
BRAC's SOFEA girls have big dreams.

Research Paper:
Profile of the Adolescent Girls: Findings from the Baseline Survey for Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents (SoFEA) Programme

Blogs:
Back to Bangladesh - Day 3 - June 22, 2011
Bangladeshi conviction