Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP): Savings account

Through the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP), the Population Council and partners implemented a social, health, and economic asset-building program for over 10,000 vulnerable adolescent girls aged 10–19 years in Zambia. The AGEP intervention was comprised of three major components: 1) safe spaces groups in which girls met once a week over the course of two years for training on sexual and reproductive health, life skills, and financial education; 2) a health voucher that girls could use at contracted private and public facilities for a package of general wellness and sexual and reproductive health services; and 3) a savings account that was designed specifically to be girl-friendly. Based on the experiences described in this brief, key recommendations for developing and administering a savings account targeting adolescent girls are outlined. As the study continues to follow the adolescent girls for two additional years after the program, time will tell if the positive changes in financial literacy and savings behavior are sustained and if they translate into longer-term changes in sexual health behaviors