Adolescents

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and its Tanzania-based partner, Taasisi ya Maendeleo Shirikishi Arusha (TAMASHA), are profiled on the ViiV Healthcare Effect website for the project “Vitu Newala” or “Newala Youth Can.” The website features a “tour” of the project, which worked with communities in the remote Newala district of Tanzania to understand the needs of adolescent girls and address their vulnerabilities to HIV. The tour includes an in-depth summary of the project as well as video interviews with ICRW’s Jennifer McCleary-Sills and TAMASHA’s Richard Mabala and Annagrace Rwehumbiza.

Vitu Newala was funded by ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company that focuses solely on HIV. Through its Positive Action program, ViiV Healthcare works with communities most vulnerable to HIV disease with projects ranging from education, prevention, care and treatment.

Every day an estimated 25,000 girls are married off against their will. Some are as young as eight years old. Others have just entered puberty. No matter their age, the moment the wedding ceremony ends, so do the girls’ dreams of becoming a teacher, a health worker, a lawyer.

It’s a tragic scenario, but not just for girls. It’s tragic for all of us who desire an economically stable, healthy world. Instead of growing up to be women who can contribute to the overall well-being of their families and communities, most child brides will drop out of school. From Yemen to Nicaragua, many girls will give birth while their own bodies are still developing, leading to terrible health problems. Most will live in servitude and suffer abuse. These are common outcomes of child marriage that perpetuate the cycle of poverty, lack of education, poor health and gender inequity in low-income societies.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Investing now in girls at risk of early marriage can yield lasting social and economic benefits not only for the girls themselves, but their families and society, too. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s the smart thing to do.

ICRW has been advocating for the past decade on the need to end the harmful practice child marriage from a development, human rights and gender equity perspective. We have been putting ideas to practice in countries like Ethiopia and India. And now we find ourselves in the midst of an unprecedented growing movement to end child marriage: The Elders, an eminent group of former leaders like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson, this year launched Girls Not Brides, a global campaign to raise awareness of the ills caused by child marriage. Other influential individuals also are shining a spotlight on the practice, such as award-winning photographer Stephanie Sinclair whose images documenting child brides have brought the issue into the mainstream. And news outlets such as The Daily Beast, National Geographic and many more are finally bringing much-needed attention to the poorest, most remote parts of the world where child marriage persists.

We must rush to take advantage of the global attention and harness this collective will so that girls are valued for being girls, rather than being considered economic burdens on their families. On the contrary, if they remain unmarried and are allowed to finish high school, girls at risk of child marriage can contribute to a future generation that could break free of the painful grip of acute poverty.   

Indeed, in societies where early marriage is most common, girls are not valued in the same ways as boys. This is not to say that their families don’t love them. Many girls’ parents want to delay marriage, but with scant resources and social pressures, they feel they are left with no alternative.  

But there are alternatives. Harmful social norms can – and do – change. The promising practices ICRW has uncovered are a starting point for creating a more equitable environment for girls. And what’s more, there is evidence that they are working.

Some approaches that address the multiple causes and consequences of child marriage include: Arming girls with information, skills and support networks so they gain confidence and know themselves, their world and their options; educating parents on the long-term economic benefits of delaying marriage; mobilizing communities to adopt social norms that support those willing to buck the custom of early marriage; and offering economic incentives for girls and their families, who often are motivated by poverty and the lack of viable income-generating options.

More than any other time in recent history, this is the moment to redouble our joint efforts and work toward ending the harmful practice of child marriage so no girl is forced to wed too young and give up her dreams. Let’s do just that by making more investments and demonstrating the political will to create the first generation of girls who will rightly worry about finishing their homework, instead of feeding their husbands.

Sarah Degnan Kambou is president of the International Center for Research on Women.

In Tanzania's remote Newala District, adolescent girls are met with unwanted sexual advances on their way to the neighbor's house, to the water well, to the store. They feel forced to give in. Sometimes, they're raped. Girls are even scared to go to school because, they say, some teachers "just want to have sex with you."

The girls of Newala are not alone in their predicament. It reflects the experience of girls in many sub-Saharan African communities, where nearly 60 percent of all people living with HIV are women, according to UNAIDS. Sexual violence – along with early marriage, sex for pay with much older men and multiple, concurrent partnerships – are everyday realities for teenage girls. It's an environment experts say is fueled by numerous factors, including poverty, a breakdown in family and harmful norms that define girls' place in society.

All of this puts 12- to 17-year-old girls in Newala at greater risk of being infected with HIV. Unfortunately, HIV programming for vulnerable children gives little attention to teenage girls, whose needs tend to be eclipsed by those of very young children who lack basic food and care. And because of this, research evidence on adolescent girls' specific vulnerabilities and how to reduce their HIV risk remains insufficient.

Experts at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) are working to change that.

ICRW was tapped by U.K.-based ViiV Healthcare's Positive Action program to study the variety of ways in which girls are susceptible to HIV in four Newala communities, and then design a pilot project to address the most pressing risks. Working in partnership with local nongovernmental organization Taasisi ya Maendeleo Shirikishi Arusha (TAMASHA), ICRW found that long-held social norms can begin to shift when girls are encouraged to talk about their experiences and when others, including boys, reflect on their own behaviors.

Called "Vijana Tunaweza Newala" or "Vitu Newala," which means "Newala Youth Can," the project in Tanzania adds to ICRW's ongoing research about best practices to serve youth, particularly girls, and provides a model that can be applied in other settings. It also places ICRW among a small subset of organizations globally that focuses on girls – instead of institutions, such as schools – to drive community-based social change.

"Too often, programs targeting vulnerable girls are created without actually talking to the girls," said Jennifer McCleary-Sills, an ICRW social and behavioral scientist who led the project. "What makes the approach ICRW designed for Vitu Newala unique is that it didn't treat adolescent girls as passive beneficiaries of a pre-packaged HIV prevention program. Instead, it empowered girls to define their own needs, lead and interpret research on the issues that affect them and educate their peers with activities they developed."

Meet them where they are

Located in southern Tanzania, Newala District is comprised of 28 rural, predominantly Muslim communities where families make a living farming cashews. It has one paved road. Mobile phone networks just developed more of a presence this year.

Women and girls here are expected to stay at home, and if they veer from that space, they risk harassment or sexual violence. The chances that girls will be sexually abused are so great that parents don't want to send their daughters to secondary school. Even taking part in Newala's traditional dance to mark girls' transition to womanhood has become risky. These days, young men attend. It's not uncommon for groups of them to fondle or sexually assault girls on the way home from the celebration.

"It all comes down to how gender is socially constructed – women are meant to live their lives primarily in the private, domestic sphere, whereas men control the public sphere," said Katherine Fritz, director of ICRW's global health research and programs. "When girls circulate in the public sphere, it can be seen as something that's outside of the norm and potentially provocative. If a girl is assaulted while moving around by herself, many people draw the conclusion that 'she asked for it.'"

Further fueling the situation, very few girls and boys grow up with two parents at home, in part because they have died from AIDS. When one or both parents die or separate, children often are left with grandparents or on their own. Researchers found that a number of teenage girls in Newala are heading households and providing for their siblings, a trend that has plagued girls across sub-Saharan Africa for years in countries where HIV-rates are high.

Such fractured families and the lack of adult presence in girls' lives contribute to their vulnerable state: Many are wooed by much older men who pay the girls for sex and help provide for their basic needs as well as those of their siblings. Sometimes, girls will have a series of such partners over time.

To better understand and address teenage girls' risks in Newala, ICRW designed an approach that allowed girls and the community to turn a mirror on themselves, analyze what they saw and determine the changes they wanted to make. Here's how it worked:

Girls ages 18 to 24 were trained by TAMASHA to be youth researchers who aimed to better understand younger girls' lives in Newala. Researchers talked to 12 to 17 year olds about their aspirations and roadblocks to achieving them. They asked them to draw maps identifying spots in their communities where they felt unsafe. Girls were then encouraged to come up with ways to reduce the risks they faced.

Meanwhile, project researchers spoke with parents, community leaders and service providers in Newala to hear their perspectives. ICRW found that many adults put the onus on girls, accusing them of not making "better choices." Girls were expected to wait until they were adults – or ideally, married – to have sex. At the same time, researchers found that men and boys were not being held accountable for their actions.

Girls also told researchers they didn't feel as if anyone in the communities took responsibility for keeping them safe. Many were frustrated that they were blamed for not avoiding risks from which no one helped protect them. With that, TAMASHA asked the girls to suggest community members who should be responsible for making dangerous areas in their communities safer.

"The protective factors that used to be there in all African cultures have broken down," which is in part why men's behavior goes unchecked and girls' risks increasingly rise, said Richard Mabala, executive director of TAMASHA. "And there's nothing that has really taken its place."

"This is why we believe by young people coming together they can start creating what takes its place."

Youth lead social change

Indeed, young people were the driving force behind Vitu Newala, which essentially sought to empower youth to advocate for themselves and reduce their vulnerability to HIV. The program included activities created by adolescent girls and boys, such as dramatic plays, to learn about and discuss everything from reproductive health to goal setting. Together with adults, they figured out how to better protect the community's young people, especially girls.

Such communal reflection by boys and girls had never happened before in Newala. For most girls, it was the first time they'd been asked their opinion or share their experiences. McCleary-Sills said this required a delicate balance – after all, men and boys perpetuate the forms of violence that increase girls' vulnerability to HIV. But she said they had to be involved if the environment for Newala's girls was to change.

"It was a matter of bringing boys and girls together on equal footing – not as good and evil, or victim and aggressor – and empowering them all to be agents of social change in their communities," McCleary-Sills said.

Anecdotal evidence from Vitu Newala shows that the pilot program made a difference in a short time: With the exception of school, girls reported that they felt safer at some of the most risky locations identified in the formative research. Communities are now supporting Vitu Newala to create youth centers and some are rewriting bylaws to limit boys' participation in girls' initiation ceremony. And young people said they now think and act differently about sex, relationships and their future.

Even if limited in reach and scope, Vitu Newala offers a promising model that can be applied to other efforts targeting vulnerable girls in sub-Saharan African communities and elsewhere.

"Although what we know so far is a small amount, it does appear to be moving social norms in the direction we want," ICRW's Fritz said. "But we need continued support to document and measure the impact at the individual and community level over a longer period of time."

Read more about ICRW's work with adolescents: Boys and Girls Becoming Equals, Changing for the Better

Gillian Gaynair is ICRW's senior writer and editor.

ICRW applied its expertise in research, program design and evaluation to examine the variety of ways in which adolescent girls in four rural Tanzanian communities are vulnerable to HIV. In partnership with the local nongovernmental organization, Taasisi ya Maendeleo Shirikishi Arusha (TAMASHA), we then designed a pilot project to address girls’ most pressing risks. The project was called “Vijana Tunaweza Newala” or “Vitu Newala,” which means “Newala Youth Can.” It was implemented in Newala District, Tanzania. 

The effort was unique because it was entirely driven by youth: Newala’s girls defined their own needs. They led and interpreted research on the issues that affected them. Then, together with other community members – including young men and adults – they came up with ways to reduce the risky environment that contributed to their vulnerability to HIV and unwanted pregnancies. 

Anecdotal evidence shows that in a short time, Vitu Newala made a difference. Here’s what some of the youth researchers and program participants* told us about the risks they face and how the project helped them: 

On perceptions of girls: 

“People see me differently now because I’ve been called to do trainings ... Even adults see me as different from the other girls,” said Amina, a 21-year-old youth researcher. “I got different ideas and views from the other girls and I learned about the problems we face, even some I didn’t know about before. I was so happy to do the research and to talk to girls in my community.” 

A 19-year-old young man who helped lead peer-to-peer activities said he thinks of girls in his community differently now. “These changes are very important to me, my friends and my family as now they know the consequence of men’s behavior towards girls,” he said. “Some of them are our sisters, because when we are doing this to the girls outside, there are some boys out there who are doing the same to our sisters.” 

“People treat me differently now. I feel like a president! I feel different now because I’m able to talk to my peers and get them to listen to me. They take my advice and allow me to explain things to them,” said Hawa, 23. 

“I have a daughter, and I have decided that I won’t initiate her too young. I might have done it before coming to do the research. Before, I didn’t know the problems that early initiation can cause.” Hawa said that when she does allow her daughter to participate in the initiation, “I want to be sure she has self-awareness and that she knows sex can lead to pregnancy, HIV, gonorrhea, syphilis and other problems.  I’ll teach her to avoid temptations from boys and men in the world. I’ll teach her how to say ‘no’ firmly.”  

On sexual and reproductive health education:

“Teenage pregnancy is rampant in my village. Now, as an advisor, I can call the girls together and I can help,” said Hadija, 20. “I’m a girl like them; I can explain the dangers of boys in the community and help find ways to avoid these problems. I’d like to learn more about family planning to help them prevent pregnancy in the first place.”

Some girls said they don’t get any practical information at school about how to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies. “They talk to us about our body and the different parts, but they don’t’ tell us anything useful,” said a participant from the 12- to 14-year-old group. “What we really need to know is how do girls get pregnant and how can we avoid that?” 

“I was so happy at the first sessions because we talked about these things,” a 17-year-old girl said about discussions on sexuality and reproductive health. “Nobody else talks to us about these things.” 

On girls’ risk and fractured families:

 “I feel different about myself now because I’ve learned about things that put me at risk as a girl. Now I can avoid these dangers and can help other girls avoid them, too,” said 21-year-old Leila. “There are so many ways I’ve benefitted from this experience. We’re just happy that you thought about Newala and came here to help us deal with the problems we face. Now we hope you can do more things to help us make changes in Newala.” 

“If your family sends you to the farm to work and you get raped in the bush, people ask you why you went to the farm alone. But why did they tell you to go there alone when they know it’s dangerous?” said a participant from the program’s 15- to 17-year-old group.

“Nowadays, families break up all the time and parents end up seeing children as a nuisance and nobody cares for them,” an adult community member said. “They end up begging in the streets. Nobody protects them or provides for them.” 

“We’re learning because of this education,” a 17-year-old boy said. “Even for older men in their 40s, they used to go with girls as young as 12 or 15 years old and have sex with them. That character is changing now because they’re seeing the risks they bring to girls.” 

*In accordance with ICRW’s research protocols, program participants are not identified.

MORE: Girls Take HIV Risk into Their Own Hands