Young Women: Life Choices and Livelihoods in Poor Urban Areas

This analysis of empowerment of women in economically poor urban areas of India, South Africa, and Ghana is based upon the ActionAid Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) which "conceptualises empowerment as follows: Empowerment includes giving people living in poverty the power to: build critical awareness of their situation (conscientisation); organise and mobilise for individual and collective action, with us supporting and strengthening organisations and movements; monitor public policies and budgets; develop communication skills and platforms and respond to vulnerability and needs through rights-based approaches to service delivery."

The first section on women and urbanisation presents an analysis of the political economy of urbanisation through a gender lens. The second section on women’s work in urban areas starts with a feminist analysis of the issue. "...The capacity to exercise choice depends on a person’s resources, ability to act upon goals, and willingness to seek achievements...." Because labour conditions can be in violation of rights, be unpaid, or hamper the agency of women, work is not necessarily empowering without conditions that offer to increase women's choices, particularly in education and sexual and reproductive health.

"Women’s education is also a key factor in the debates on women’s empowerment and is believed to have a strong transformative capacity. Education has the potential to improve a woman’s possibilities for paid work, her sense of self and confidence, her health and control over fertility and her children....It needs to be valued and promoted on the basic principle that women are also human beings and deserve the right to education.

...Education which encompasses comprehensive sex education is very significant in contributing to women’s desire and demand for quality SRH [sexual and reproductive health] services and to informed choice....Studies have also pointed to the different forms of education (formal, informal, vocational) that need to be provided to engage young urban women, given their numerous paid work and care responsibilities and the threat of sexual harassment/abuse on streets...."

The third section is on women’s SRH rights in urban areas. The effort to organise for better labour conditions, access to education, and access to SRH is analysed for its potential of empowerment. The last section on pathways of women’s empowerment links the overall analysis with experiences of economically poor urban women across the developing world with regard to economic, social, and sexual empowerment.

The last section presents a critical analysis of three case studies:

1. Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI): an alliance for economic empowerment launched by the World Bank in 2008. "AGI programme objectives include: to raise awareness of the need for economic empowerment of adolescent girls, both inside and outside the Bank; to strengthen the evidence and knowledge about what works in terms of interventions to ease the transition of adolescent girls and young women from school to work; to foster cross-country learning and knowledge exchange; and to set the stage for scale up and replication of successful pilot projects....The pilots begin with vulnerability studies that assess: poverty level; literacy level; number of years of education; whether girls are in school, the paid labour force or neither; family support for participation in the programme; presence of someone in the family who can take over the participant’s domestic responsibilities....Additional steps include research to identify the barriers to girls entering the labour force and labour market assessments to design training programmes that are tailored to labour demand. There AGI is also designed with a significant programmatic focus on impact evaluations." As stated here, the programme is criticised for addressing employment without addressing agency or empowerment of the girls within the workplace. Recruitment includes radio, posters, and pamphlets in local languages and  working with local networks. Some programmes include literacy training; in some places, networks are established for peer support and for safety in travelling to and from the training.
2. Biruh Tesfa, Ethiopia: a programme for out-of-school slum dwelling girls from 10-19 years of age. "The objective of Biruh Tesfa was to address the social isolation of adolescent girls by building their social capital and increasing their involvement in activities by giving them access to basic literacy, life skills, and HIV and reproductive health information." Built on the idea of girl groups and mentors, it establishes regular meetings with mentors, mentor training, and a curriculum of life skills, HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health, and gender issues. Additionally, the Ministry of Education provides materials on basic literacy and numeracy. According to organisers, more safe employment opportunities could provide a better transition to jobs.
3. Girl Hub/Effect, Nike Foundation: a marketing campaign, including a website, videos, posters, and buttons. Social marketing material argues for supporting girls’ education and health care as a case of investment rather than as a right. Focusing on Rwanda, Northern Nigeria, Ethiopia, and India, the campaign has a pilot that creates girls-only spaces for meetings to increase knowledge of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health and include mutual support and mentoring. It has an initiative "driven by insights of the girls themselves. They design the work and the messages and girls are the role models. So far the initiative has started a radio show by, about and for girls, as well as a girls’ magazine. In both programmes they are also working with the parents of the girls as a means of engaging the girls." In Ethiopia, the focus has been working with Berhane Hewan on delaying marriage and creating groups of girls meeting together in and out of school, including first-time mothers' clubs, girls with children groups, etc. Outreach is done through girls identifying other vulnerable girls and through posters in health centres and schools. Girls' groups are used as a vehicle of mutual support and to prevent violence against them.

The document concludes that the case studies tested various means of identifying vulnerable girls and young women and engaging them,  building networks of support among them and clarifying the direction of life skills and training programmes towards real possibilities of livelihoods.