Impact case study: Transforming adolescent girls’ lives through cash-plus-multisectoral programming in Kenya

Background

Child marriage and adolescent pregnancy remain major challenges in fragile and humanitarian settings, with long-term effects on girls’ health, education and economic opportunities. In drought- and flood-affected Wajir County, Kenya, AGI-K combined community dialogue, conditional cash transfers, health and life-skills education, and economic empowerment to support adolescent girls and test whether early, multisectoral support could generate sustained change.

The study

The R2HC-funded follow-up tracked more than 2,000 girls from 80 villages who had participated in the original AGI-K randomised trial. It examined whether impacts on marriage, pregnancy and school participation were sustained four years after the intervention, comparing different combinations of education support, cash transfers, health clubs and wealth-creation programming.

Findings and impact

• Showed sustained effectsfour years later: girls in intervention groups were more likely to remain inschool and less likely to be married or have had a first child.
• Demonstrated that short-term, early-adolescent cash-plus interventions can have lasting impacts in drought-prone humanitarian settings.
• Informed Wajir County adolescent health policies, the County Integrated Development Plan and the Community Health Services Bill.
• Contributed to Kenya’s national Adolescent Health Policy, especially on child marriage and teenage pregnancy in humanitarian settings.
• Helped shape a five-year Kenyan government and World Bankcash-plus programme for adolescents in priority counties.
• Supported further investment, including scale-up pilots and aplanned ten-year follow-up to assess intergenerational outcomes.

Lessons learnt

• Long-term, contextually grounded relationships with stakeholders enhanced legitimacy, collaboration and receptivity to the research.
• A supportive policy environment and active engagement with national policy processes enabled  researchers to leverage policy windows and political timing.

Partners

Population Council Kenya, African Population and Health Research Centre, Hunger Safety Net Programme, Save the Children.

Methodology

R2HC captures detailed case studies through a process that triangulates and validates evidence on uptake and impact. The case study methodology and full version of this summary case study including references are available on request. Outputs and resources from this study are available on the project page.