Young people deserve the opportunity to reach their potential.
Young people across the Global South hold tremendous potential, but they face disproportionate risks and barriers that can create challenging transitions into adulthood. Across Asia and Africa, young people—particularly girls and young women—are vulnerable to poverty and exploitation and face limited job prospects. BRAC’s youth programs combine social empowerment, economic empowerment, and education to enable young people to reach their full potential.
Your impact
countries reached with youth programs
increased involvement in income-generating activities for girls in youth empowerment clubs in Uganda
adolescents and young people reached through youth empowerment programs
girls in villages with youth empowerment clubs were half as likely to drop out of school during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone
BRAC’s youth empowerment programs equip girls and young women with the knowledge and tools they need to thrive.
Our youth empowerment programs offer safe spaces and mentor-led, community-supported programming for young people, with a focus on girls. Through a combination of social empowerment, education, and economic empowerment, young people gain the knowledge and tools to overcome barriers and pursue futures full of possibility.
Our approach
BRAC’s youth programs build self confidence, leadership, critical thinking, decision-making skills, and social skills. Through a “near peer” mentoring model, youth learn and engage on these topics with community-based facilitators. Youth also explore gender dynamics and learn to navigate issues that affect their well-being and their futures, such as relationships, sexual and reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence, early marriage, human and legal rights, and more. BRAC also incorporates sports, reading, games, and socializing into youth empowerment programs to build a network of supportive peers. Programs are age appropriate, with content tailored for young adolescents, older adolescents, young adults, and older youth. A strong foundation in life skills helps prepare young people to become strong, resilient, adaptable adults.
Social empowerment
BRAC’s youth programs also prioritize education. We aim to increase enrollment among in- school and out-of-school youth and support them to complete their formal-education. For those who have dropped out of school, we offer alternative education pathways and focus on numeracy and literacy skills that help them find jobs and earn income. This support enables young people to advance their education and, as a result, improve their employment opportunities and earning potential later in life.
Education
Our youth programs help young people gain the skills and resources they need to secure gainful employment. We provide training in entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy along with career coaching and other soft skills. For older adolescents and youth, we offer demand-driven vocational training and apprenticeship opportunities. We also address societal norms rooted in gender inequities that make young women economically vulnerable and decrease their power and influence in financial matters and other important life decisions, including marriage and access to school. To address inequity, BRAC believes that social empowerment must go hand in hand with economic empowerment.
Economic empowerment
At the heart of BRAC’s youth programs is a focus on community engagement. BRAC engages local communities through meetings with leaders, parents, caregivers, and the broader community. We lead local advocacy and campaigns to improve community buy-in for empowering youth and to foster enabling environments for girls. In order to improve the status of girls and young women in their communities, we also focus on engaging boys and young men to address gender dynamics and improve girls’ lived experiences.
Community engagement
Our work in action
A force on two wheels: Adikilait fights for the rights of girls and young women
A shy Adikilait was forced to drop out of school after she became pregnant. She is now a leader and mentor who fights for the rights of girls and young women like her.
[BRAC’s youth programs] are shaped by giving voice to young people’s concerns and aspirations — and then giving them the means to shape their own futures.”
Program Highlights
Powering her potential: Results from year 1 of BRAC’s ambitious new program for African youth
After one year of BRAC’s most ambitious program yet, the results are in. The new program, Mastercard Foundation Accelerating Impact for Young Women (AIM) in Partnership with BRAC, will empower more than a million adolescent girls and young women over five years. Discover the exciting results from year one.
Related Research
Youth empowerment in Uganda through interactive storytelling and basic phones
A new collaboration with BRAC, Viamo, and Peripheral Vision International uses cell phones and storytelling to reach young women with critical messages. BRAC Girls Talk allows girls to navigate an educational choose-your-own adventure story on their cell phone: all while learning about important topics such as women's health, financial education, and gender-based violence. Discover learnings from a 12-week pilot in Uganda.
Including males: Improving sexual and reproductive health for female adolescents
A youth programming collaboration in Tanzania with BRAC and Grassroots Soccer offered BRAC’s flagship ELA program for adolescent girls alongside a soccer intervention for boys. Research revealed that goal-setting activities in the ELA program improved sexual and reproductive health outcomes for girls, and engaging young men in the soccer intervention reduced girls’ reports of intimate partner violence.
Job Demand & Employment Market analysis: Liberia
BRAC conducted an analysis of the labor market in Liberia, in partnership with FHI360 and Novo Foundation, to better tailor our youth empowerment programs to prepare young people for fulfilling employment.
Job Demand & Employment Market analysis: Sierra Leone
BRAC conducted an analysis of the labor market in Sierra Leone, in partnership with FHI360 and Novo Foundation, to better tailor our youth empowerment programs to prepare young people for fulfilling employment.
Women's empowerment in action: Evidence from a randomized control trial in Africa
A rigorous evaluation of BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents (ELA) program in Uganda found that girls in villages with ELA clubs were almost 50% more likely to engage in income-generating activities and were significantly more likely to delay marriage and pregnancy.
The economic lives of young women in the time of Ebola: Lessons from an empowerment program
An evaluation in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic revealed that BRAC’s ELA program helped mitigate some of the negative impacts that adolescent girls across the country faced. In the communities most affected by the epidemic, girls in ELA clubs were half as likely to drop out of school, less likely to become pregnant, and had improved business skills, attitudes towards gender roles, and health knowledge.
