Where We Work : Uganda : Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents

BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents programme is part of the girl effect.

We organise adolescent clubs in the local communities that provide girls with safe spaces, where they can meet with other girls their age and discuss important issues. Adolescent leaders are selected from within the groups. They are trained to run life skills courses, organize club activities, and to act as mentors to the younger members. 

Increasing opportunities for teenage girls:

We exclusively target vulnerable teenage girls to become members of our innovative livelihood and life skills training programme, alongside a customised microfinance programme.

In Uganda, teenage girls suffer a number of disadvantages:

• Only 17% of girls enrol in secondary school
• 26% of girls aged between 15 and 19 are mothers
• 50% of the HIV/AIDS infected population is between 10 and 14 years old

Adolescent Clubs

Since launching the programme in 2008, we have established 500 clubs in the heart of local communities and recruited more than 14,600 members.

The clubs are the focal point for a number of elements including:

• Adolescent Leaders, who act as mentors
• Life Skills Training Course
• Income Generation Skills Training
• Special Adolescent Microfinance Groups
• Community Participation

The diversity of the clubs' members – from child mothers to peer educators – helps break down social divides and builds confidence in the more vulnerable girls.