This UNICEF brochure presents highlights of the primary findings of the baseline survey of the second phase of the Kishori Abhijan – Empowerment of Adolescents – project. The baseline survey looked to understand the social environment of adolescents, against which an end-of-project evaluation could gauge social rather than individual change. It involved 10,816 respondents from a randomly selected sample of the Kishori Abhijan project sites (equally representing the NGOs involved) and control sites (villages near project intervention sites that were not involved in any project activities).
The pilot project started in 2001 and aimed to improve the lives of adolescent girls in Bangladesh by transforming the social environment in which they live. Now in its second phase, the Kishori Abhijan project informs girls, boys and their parents about gender roles, discrimination, health, hygiene, nutrition and their legal rights. It also offers adolescent girls the opportunity to acquire life, livelihood and leadership skills. The primary topics concentrate on child marriage, dowry, child rights, reproductive health, HIV and STD prevention, family planning, birth and marriage registration and domestic violence awareness.
