Amplifying girls’ voices and visibility has been highlighted as a key approach both to ensure programming aims to meet their needs, and to increase young people’s voice, agency and participation in decisions that affect their lives – both as individuals and collectively. There have been growing calls to increase funding to movements and organisations led by girls and youth (Arutynova et al., 2022; Salley, 2019; Mama Cash and FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund, 2018). To date, however, there is limited evidence on how much funding is currently invested in adolescent-and youth-led organisations.

A significant proportion of the global population is comprised of adolescents and young people, with an estimated 1.2 billion individuals aged between 10 and 24 years old – the largest ever cohort in history. Adolescence defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the phase of life between the ages of 10 to 19 years – is recognized as a unique and critical life stage marked by the transition from childhood to adulthood.

The Investing in Adolescent Girls Report by GAGE produces a comprehensive snapshot of investments in adolescent girls’ development as well as identifies which aspects of girls’ lives and well-being the funds are directed to, so as to facilitate a discussion on key priorities for future investments.

This report by GAGE, on behalf of AGIP, investigates what we know about adolescent and youth well-being based on available SDG indicator data, and the extent to which data are usefully disaggregated and reported. The report answers three overarching questions:

With the COVID-19 crisis continuing to evolve, evidence on the effectiveness of short-term emergency-oriented responses and long-term mitigation strategies is expanding but still limited. There are, and will continue to be, substantial evidence gaps on programming to address risk across outcomes of importance to adolescent girls.

More evidence is needed to slow the risks posed by the pandemic for this sub-population, which can help guide gender- and age-responsive prevention and impact mitigation investments. Evidence from approaches delivered in other unstable contexts may offer important lessons for decision-making in the current context. Recognizing this, Population Council conducted a structured review (under the auspices of the AGIP) of existing evidence collected prior to the pandemic, across low- and middle-income country contexts.

Over the last 25 years, the world has made tremendous strides in shaping a more gender-equal world. Still, millions of adolescent girls and young women face barriers to realizing their health and rights. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has created new setbacks and widened the gulf for girls and women, the Generation Equality Forum (GEF),which began in Mexico City in March and culminates in Paris in June, affords us a unique opportunity to accelerate progress for all.

Adolescent experiences following covid-19 lockdowns in low- and middle-income countries

This joint AGIP report aims to support timely and context-relevant policy and programming in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the State of Palestine (Gaza and West Bank) and Jordan by adding to the evidence base on adolescent girls’ and boys’ experiences during COVID-19. Drawing on mixed methods research it captures the risks and opportunities adolescents face across four low- and middle-income country contexts six to nine months after lockdowns in response to the pandemic were first introduced.