BRAC creates and continues to provide safe spaces for girls, especially those that have dropped out of school and might be at risk of getting pregnant at a young age. Local girls clubs in borrowed and rented buildings offer a space where girls can learn new skills, play games and socialise with their friends within walking distance of their homes.
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BRAC’s local girls clubs provide safe spaces for girls, aged 13 to 21, to sing, dance, play games and socialize with their friends within safe distance of their homes and away from the pressures of family life. Some girls are trained as mentors, and through them, the other girls receive training in health and nutrition, life skills, sexual health, financial literacy and livelihood skills.
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BRAC’s experience has proven that social empowerment goes hand in hand with economic empowerment. BRAC offers the chance for girls to receive specific small business training and microloans to start their own businesses and in doing so gain financial independence. Lending to adolescent girls has proven girls to be credit-worthy as 70 percent of girls (usually older girls) took loans ranging from £5 – £250 with a 98 percent recovery rate
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Older girls in BRAC’s empowerment and livelihood clubs receive access to small loans and training on how to start a small businesses like hair braiding, selling baked goods, or cultivating a small plot of land. A randomized control trial conducted in Uganda shows that girls who go through the program are more likely to be employed than girls who haven’t gone through the program.
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We work to help adolescent girls grow into their independence. We provide safe spaces run by peer mentors where teenage girls can enjoy hanging out while accessing health, education, vocational skills training and microcredit to start their own businesses. Watch this video to learn more.
BRAC is the world’s largest implementer of the Girl Effect, the Nike Foundation-led movement to harness the potential of adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world. BRAC works with Girl Effect in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda and Tanzania. Read more
Research from the London School of Economics and the World Bank shows that girls who go through our programme are 72 per cent more likely to engage in income-generating activities. Participants are less likely to become teenage parents and also less likely to get married early. Read more
Our girls’ groups in Bangladesh are piloting a new mobile money idea. Using bKash – the BRAC mobile money provider – girls are encouraged to save using their mobile device. Read here about some exciting expected outcomes from this pilot.