Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya: Program overview

Many adolescent girls in Kenya face considerable risks and vulnerabilities that affect their education, health, and general well-being—including early marriage; teenage pregnancy; early, unprotected, and/or unwanted sexual activity; violence; social isolation; and HIV/STIs. For the most part, very young adolescent girls who live in risk-prone environments have not yet experienced these negative outcomes. It is critical, therefore, to intervene early and increase girls’ capacity to overcome these risks before the challenges result in outcomes that may be irreversible. Research has shown that single-sector interventions are not adequate to obtain the range of outcomes needed to help girls enter into adulthood in a healthy, safe, and productive manner. However, there is insufficient evidence regarding the most cost-effective combination of multisectoral interventions to achieve the greatest positive impact on girls’ well-being. The Adolescent Girls Initiative–Kenya (AGI–K) will deliver multisectoral interventions for 6,000 girls ages 11–14 in two marginalized areas of Kenya: the Kibera slums in Nairobi, and Wajir County in Northeastern Kenya. AGI-K will run for two years and include a combination of girl-, household-, and community-level interventions